implemented and documented the new typedesc binding rules

compiler/semtypes.nim

@@ -589,6 +589,8 @@ proc addParamOrResult(c: PContext, param: PSym, kind: TSymKind) =
   else:
     if sfGenSym notin param.flags: addDecl(c, param)
 
+let typedescId = getIdent"typedesc"
+
 proc liftParamType(c: PContext, procKind: TSymKind, genericParams: PNode,
                    paramType: PType, paramName: string,
                    info: TLineInfo, anon = false): PType =
@@ -636,6 +638,9 @@ proc liftParamType(c: PContext, procKind: TSymKind, genericParams: PNode,
       result = addImplicitGeneric(c.newTypeWithSons(tyExpr, paramType.sons))
   of tyTypeDesc:
     if tfUnresolved notin paramType.flags:
+      # naked typedescs are not bindOnce types
+      if paramType.sonsLen == 0 and paramTypId != nil and
+         paramTypId.id == typedescId.id: paramTypId = nil
       result = addImplicitGeneric(c.newTypeWithSons(tyTypeDesc, paramType.sons))
   of tyDistinct:
     if paramType.sonsLen == 1:
@@ -1078,8 +1083,9 @@ proc semGenericParamList(c: PContext, n: PNode, father: PType = nil): PNode =
     if constraint.kind != nkEmpty:
       typ = semTypeNode(c, constraint, nil)
       if typ.kind != tyExpr or typ.len == 0:
-        if typ.len == 0 and typ.kind == tyTypeDesc:
+        if typ.kind == tyTypeDesc:
-          typ = newTypeS(tyGenericParam, c)
+          if typ.len == 0:
+            typ = newTypeS(tyTypeDesc, c)
         else:
           typ = semGenericConstraints(c, typ)
     

compiler/sigmatch.nim

@@ -655,7 +655,7 @@ proc typeRel(c: var TCandidate, f, a: PType): TTypeRelation =
       result = typeRel(c, x, a) # check if it fits
   of tyTypeDesc:
     var prev = PType(idTableGet(c.bindings, f))
-    if prev == nil or true:
+    if prev == nil:
       if a.kind == tyTypeDesc:
         if f.sonsLen == 0:
           result = isGeneric
@@ -667,7 +667,9 @@ proc typeRel(c: var TCandidate, f, a: PType): TTypeRelation =
         result = isNone
     else:
       InternalAssert prev.sonsLen == 1
-      result = typeRel(c, prev.sons[0], a)
+      let toMatch = if tfUnresolved in f.flags: a
+                    else: a.sons[0]
+      result = typeRel(c, prev.sons[0], toMatch)
   of tyExpr, tyStmt:
     result = isGeneric
   of tyProxy:

doc/manual.txt

@@ -1451,7 +1451,7 @@ But it seems all this boilerplate code needs to be repeated for the ``TEuro``
 currency. This can be solved with templates_.
 
 .. code-block:: nimrod
-  template Additive(typ: typeDesc): stmt =
+  template Additive(typ: typedesc): stmt =
     proc `+` *(x, y: typ): typ {.borrow.}
     proc `-` *(x, y: typ): typ {.borrow.}
     
@@ -1459,13 +1459,13 @@ currency. This can be solved with templates_.
     proc `+` *(x: typ): typ {.borrow.}
     proc `-` *(x: typ): typ {.borrow.}
 
-  template Multiplicative(typ, base: typeDesc): stmt =
+  template Multiplicative(typ, base: typedesc): stmt =
     proc `*` *(x: typ, y: base): typ {.borrow.}
     proc `*` *(x: base, y: typ): typ {.borrow.}
     proc `div` *(x: typ, y: base): typ {.borrow.}
     proc `mod` *(x: typ, y: base): typ {.borrow.}
 
-  template Comparable(typ: typeDesc): stmt =
+  template Comparable(typ: typedesc): stmt =
     proc `<` * (x, y: typ): bool {.borrow.}
     proc `<=` * (x, y: typ): bool {.borrow.}
     proc `==` * (x, y: typ): bool {.borrow.}
@@ -3323,10 +3323,10 @@ The template body does not open a new scope. To open a new scope a ``block``
 statement can be used:
 
 .. code-block:: nimrod
-  template declareInScope(x: expr, t: typeDesc): stmt {.immediate.} = 
+  template declareInScope(x: expr, t: typedesc): stmt {.immediate.} = 
     var x: t
     
-  template declareInNewScope(x: expr, t: typeDesc): stmt {.immediate.} = 
+  template declareInNewScope(x: expr, t: typedesc): stmt {.immediate.} = 
     # open a new scope:
     block: 
       var x: t
@@ -3419,7 +3419,7 @@ In templates identifiers can be constructed with the backticks notation:
 
 .. code-block:: nimrod
 
-  template typedef(name: expr, typ: typeDesc) {.immediate.} = 
+  template typedef(name: expr, typ: typedesc) {.immediate.} = 
     type
       `T name`* {.inject.} = typ
       `P name`* {.inject.} = ref `T name`
@@ -3480,7 +3480,7 @@ template cannot be accessed in the instantiation context:
 
 .. code-block:: nimrod
   
-  template newException*(exceptn: typeDesc, message: string): expr =
+  template newException*(exceptn: typedesc, message: string): expr =
     var
       e: ref exceptn  # e is implicitly gensym'ed here
     new(e)
@@ -3728,6 +3728,25 @@ instantiation type using the param name:
   var n = TNode.new
   var tree = new(TBinaryTree[int])
 
+When multiple typedesc params are present, they act like a distinct type class
+(i.e. they will bind freely to different types). To force a bind-once behavior
+one can use a named alias or an explicit `typedesc` generic param:
+
+.. code-block:: nimrod
+
+  # `type1` and `type2` are aliases for typedesc available from system.nim
+  proc acceptOnlyTypePairs(A, B: type1; C, D: type2)
+  proc acceptOnlyTypePairs[T: typedesc, U: typedesc](A, B: T; C, D: U)
+
+Once bound, typedesc params can appear in the rest of the proc signature:
+
+.. code-block:: nimrod
+
+  template declareVariableWithType(T: typedesc, value: T) =
+    var x: T = value
+
+  declareVariableWithType int, 42
+
 When used with macros and .compileTime. procs on the other hand, the compiler
 does not need to instantiate the code multiple times, because types then can be
 manipulated using the unified internal symbol representation. In such context

lib/system.nim

@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ type
   `nil` {.magic: "Nil".}
   expr* {.magic: Expr.} ## meta type to denote an expression (for templates)
   stmt* {.magic: Stmt.} ## meta type to denote a statement (for templates)
-  typeDesc* {.magic: TypeDesc.} ## meta type to denote a type description
+  typedesc* {.magic: TypeDesc.} ## meta type to denote a type description
   void* {.magic: "VoidType".}   ## meta type to denote the absense of any type
   auto* = expr
   any* = distinct auto
@@ -76,6 +76,17 @@ type
   TNumber* = TInteger|TReal
     ## type class matching all number types
 
+type
+  ## helper types for writing implicitly generic procs
+  T1* = expr
+  T2* = expr
+  T3* = expr
+  T4* = expr
+  T5* = expr
+  type1* = typedesc
+  type2* = typedesc
+  type3* = typedesc
+  
 proc defined*(x: expr): bool {.magic: "Defined", noSideEffect.}
   ## Special compile-time procedure that checks whether `x` is
   ## defined. `x` has to be an identifier or a qualified identifier.
@@ -1473,7 +1484,7 @@ when not defined(NimrodVM):
     proc seqToPtr[T](x: seq[T]): pointer {.noStackFrame, nosideeffect.} =
       asm """return `x`"""
   
-  proc `==` *[T: typeDesc](x, y: seq[T]): bool {.noSideEffect.} =
+  proc `==` *[T](x, y: seq[T]): bool {.noSideEffect.} =
     ## Generic equals operator for sequences: relies on a equals operator for
     ## the element type `T`.
     if seqToPtr(x) == seqToPtr(y):
@@ -1485,7 +1496,7 @@ when not defined(NimrodVM):
         if x[i] != y[i]: return false
       result = true
 
-proc find*[T, S: typeDesc](a: T, item: S): int {.inline.}=
+proc find*[T, S](a: T, item: S): int {.inline.}=
   ## Returns the first index of `item` in `a` or -1 if not found. This requires
   ## appropriate `items` and `==` operations to work.
   for i in items(a):
@@ -1788,7 +1799,7 @@ proc debugEcho*[T](x: varargs[T, `$`]) {.magic: "Echo", noSideEffect,
   ## to be free of side effects, so that it can be used for debugging routines
   ## marked as ``noSideEffect``.
 
-template newException*(exceptn: typeDesc, message: string): expr =
+template newException*(exceptn: typedesc, message: string): expr =
   ## creates an exception object of type ``exceptn`` and sets its ``msg`` field
   ## to `message`. Returns the new exception object.
   var
@@ -1801,7 +1812,7 @@ when hostOS == "standalone":
   include panicoverride
 
 when not defined(sysFatal):
-  template sysFatal(exceptn: typeDesc, message: string) =
+  template sysFatal(exceptn: typedesc, message: string) =
     when hostOS == "standalone":
       panic(message)
     else:
@@ -1810,7 +1821,7 @@ when not defined(sysFatal):
       e.msg = message
       raise e
 
-  template sysFatal(exceptn: typeDesc, message, arg: string) =
+  template sysFatal(exceptn: typedesc, message, arg: string) =
     when hostOS == "standalone":
       rawoutput(message)
       panic(arg)

tests/compile/tbindtypedesc.nim

@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+discard """
+  msg: '''
+int
+float
+TFoo
+TFoo
+'''
+"""
+
+import typetraits
+
+type 
+  TFoo = object
+    x, y: int
+
+  TBar = tuple
+    x, y: int
+
+template good(e: expr) =
+  static: assert(compiles(e))
+
+template bad(e: expr) =
+  static: assert(not compiles(e))
+
+proc genericParamRepeated[T: typedesc](a: T, b: T) =
+  static:
+    echo a.name
+    echo b.name
+
+good(genericParamRepeated(int, int))
+good(genericParamRepeated(float, float))
+
+bad(genericParamRepeated(string, int))
+bad(genericParamRepeated(int, float))
+
+proc genericParamOnce[T: typedesc](a, b: T) =
+  static:
+    echo a.name
+    echo b.name
+
+good(genericParamOnce(int, int))
+good(genericParamOnce(TFoo, TFoo))
+
+bad(genericParamOnce(string, int))
+bad(genericParamOnce(TFoo, float))
+
+proc typePairs(A, B: type1; C, D: type2) = nil
+
+good(typePairs(int, int, TFoo, TFOO))
+good(typePairs(TBAR, TBar, TBAR, TBAR))
+good(typePairs(int, int, string, string))
+
+bad(typePairs(TBAR, TBar, TBar, TFoo))
+bad(typePairs(string, int, TBAR, TBAR))
+
+proc typePairs2[T: typedesc, U: typedesc](A, B: T; C, D: U) = nil
+
+good(typePairs2(int, int, TFoo, TFOO))
+good(typePairs2(TBAR, TBar, TBAR, TBAR))
+good(typePairs2(int, int, string, string))
+
+bad(typePairs2(TBAR, TBar, TBar, TFoo))
+bad(typePairs2(string, int, TBAR, TBAR))
+
+proc dontBind(a: typedesc, b: typedesc) =
+  static:
+    echo a.name
+    echo b.name
+
+good(dontBind(int, float))
+good(dontBind(TFoo, TFoo))
+
+proc dontBind2(a, b: typedesc) = nil
+
+good(dontBind2(int, float))
+good(dontBind2(TBar, int))
+
+proc bindArg(T: typedesc, U: typedesc, a, b: T, c, d: U) = nil
+
+good(bindArg(int, string, 10, 20, "test", "nest"))
+good(bindArg(int, int, 10, 20, 30, 40))
+
+bad(bindArg(int, string, 10, "test", "test", "nest"))
+bad(bindArg(int, int, 10, 20, 30, "test"))
+bad(bindArg(int, string, 10.0, 20, "test", "nest"))
+bad(bindArg(int, string, "test", "nest", 10, 20))
+