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Modernizing Swift's Debugging Identifiers

Introduction

This proposal aims to eliminate Swift's use of "screaming snake case" like __FILE__ and __FUNCTION__ and replacing identifier instances with common octothorpe-prefixed lowercase #identifier representations.

The Swift-Evolution discussion of this topic took place in the "[Review] SE-0022: Referencing the Objective-C selector of a method" thread and then in its own "[Proposal] Eliminating Swift's Screaming Snake Case Identifiers" thread

Motivation

Swift offers built-in __FILE__, __LINE__, __COLUMN__, __FUNCTION__, and __DSO_HANDLE__ identifiers. The first four expand to string and integer literals corresponding to a current location in source code. The last provides an UnsafePointer to the current dynamic shared object (.dylib or .so file). These features provide high utility for logging, both tracing execution and enabling developers to capture error context.

The current identifiers owe their syntax to C's __FILE__ and __LINE__ macros. These are built into C's preprocessor and expanded before running the C-language parser. Swift's implementation differs from C's but offers similar functionality and, unfortunately, similar symbols. This proposal aims to break free of the historic chains of their unsightly screaming snake case, which look like boa constrictors trying to digest fully swallowed keywords.

Proposed solution

Using octothorpe-prefixed keywords offers several advantages:

  • They match the existing #available keyword (D. Gregor)
  • They match SE-0022's already-accepted #selector(...) approach that reference a method's Objective-C selector (D. Gregor)
  • They support targeted code completion (D. Gregor)
  • They add a compiler-supported expression type that doesn't steal keywords, introducing a convention where # means "invoke compiler substitution logic here" (J. Rose)
  • They'd provide short-term solutions for a yet-as-undesigned macro system (D. Gregor)

Detailed design

This proposal renames the following identifiers:

  • __FILE__ -> #file
  • __LINE__ -> #line
  • __COLUMN__ -> #column
  • __FUNCTION__ -> #function (Added during review)
  • __DSO_HANDLE__ -> #dsohandle

These identifiers retain the magic behavior of the existing __LINE__ features: in a normal expression context, they expand to the location at that point. In a default argument context, they expand to the location of the caller.

Additional points to be considered by the Swift team for inclusion:

  • Adding #filename to avoid using lastPathComponent on #file references.
  • Retaining __FUNCTION__ to be renamed as #function. (Accepted during review)
  • Adopting a lower-case naming standard including #dsohandle and a potential future #sourcelocation.
  • Introducing #symbol, (e.g. Swift.Dictionary.Init(x:Int,y:String)), which summarizes context including module, type, and function. A fully qualified symbol enables users to access exactly the information they desire. It should contain parameter type information to properly identify member overloads.

Possible Future Extensions

SR-198 requested the coalescing of existing identifiers. A structured #sourcelocation identifier could be added as a follow-on if and when the Swift team decides to tackle a standardized source location type, which would provide individual field or keyword access.

In support of summaries, Remy Demerest writes, "[I] love the idea that source location would be one object that you can print to get the full story while still retaining the possibility to use each individual components as needed, which is probably the rarer case. I never find myself wanting only some of properties and usually don't include them simply because it takes longer to write the format properly, if I can get them all in one go it's certainly a win."

Should such a type be adopted, I'd recommend support for common output summary representations suitably differentiated for debug and release logging. Alternatively #context, #releasecontext, and #debugcontext summaries could be added independently of the adoption of #sourcelocation.

Implementation notes

The octothorpe-delineated #line identifier already exists in Swift for resetting line numbers. Constraining the current #line directive to be the first token after a newline would disambiguate use. Alternatively, the context #line identifier could be renamed #linenumber.

Review Acceptance and Modifications

The review of SE-0028 "Modernizing Swift's Debugging Identifiers" ran from January 29… February 2, 2016. The proposal has been accepted, with modifications:

  • The core team agrees that we should rename all of the existing __FILE__, __LINE__, __COLUMN__, __FUNCTION__, and __DSO_HANDLE__ symbols to lowercase equivalents in the # namespace: #file, #line, #column, #function, #dsohandle. This includes keeping __FUNCTION__, and making #line have the dual behavior of being a directive when it is the first token on a line, but an expression otherwise. Renaming these symbols improves uniformity within the Swift language, and keeping all of them provides a smooth transition path from the old syntax to the new syntax.

  • The core team isn’t thrilled with the magic “first token on a line” whitespace behavior that #line will be getting, and would like to start a discussion about renaming the old #line directive to something more specific and tailored to its purpose. Once that name and syntax is settled, we can rename the directive and remove the whitespace rule.

  • The core team requests that #symbol be split out into a separate proposal, because it needs more detailed design work, and is an additive feature. For example, it might be appealing to provide a #mangledname expression that provides the current symbol as a mangled name: when fed into a demangler, a more structured form of the current symbol would be available.