Merge pull request rust-lang#31 from mark-i-m/markim_readme_01

Copy type inference readme

Author: nikomatsakis

src/type-inference.md

@@ -1 +1,227 @@
 # Type inference
+
+The type inference is based on standard HM-type inference, but
+extended in various way to accommodate subtyping, region inference,
+and higher-ranked types.
+
+## A note on terminology
+
+We use the notation `?T` to refer to inference variables, also called
+existential variables.
+
+We use the term "region" and "lifetime" interchangeably. Both refer to
+the `'a` in `&'a T`.
+
+The term "bound region" refers to regions bound in a function
+signature, such as the `'a` in `for<'a> fn(&'a u32)`. A region is
+"free" if it is not bound.
+
+## Creating an inference context
+
+You create and "enter" an inference context by doing something like
+the following:
+
+```rust
+tcx.infer_ctxt().enter(|infcx| {
+    // use the inference context `infcx` in here
+})
+```
+
+Each inference context creates a short-lived type arena to store the
+fresh types and things that it will create, as described in
+[the README in the ty module][ty-readme]. This arena is created by the `enter`
+function and disposed after it returns.
+
+[ty-readme]: src/librustc/ty/README.md
+
+Within the closure, the infcx will have the type `InferCtxt<'cx, 'gcx,
+'tcx>` for some fresh `'cx` and `'tcx` -- the latter corresponds to
+the lifetime of this temporary arena, and the `'cx` is the lifetime of
+the `InferCtxt` itself. (Again, see [that ty README][ty-readme] for
+more details on this setup.)
+
+The `tcx.infer_ctxt` method actually returns a build, which means
+there are some kinds of configuration you can do before the `infcx` is
+created. See `InferCtxtBuilder` for more information.
+
+## Inference variables
+
+The main purpose of the inference context is to house a bunch of
+**inference variables** -- these represent types or regions whose precise
+value is not yet known, but will be uncovered as we perform type-checking.
+
+If you're familiar with the basic ideas of unification from H-M type
+systems, or logic languages like Prolog, this is the same concept. If
+you're not, you might want to read a tutorial on how H-M type
+inference works, or perhaps this blog post on
+[unification in the Chalk project].
+
+[Unification in the Chalk project]: http://smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/blog/2017/03/25/unification-in-chalk-part-1/
+
+All told, the inference context stores four kinds of inference variables as of this
+writing:
+
+- Type variables, which come in three varieties:
+  - General type variables (the most common). These can be unified with any type.
+  - Integral type variables, which can only be unified with an integral type, and
+    arise from an integer literal expression like `22`.
+  - Float type variables, which can only be unified with a float type, and
+    arise from a float literal expression like `22.0`.
+- Region variables, which represent lifetimes, and arise all over the dang place.
+
+All the type variables work in much the same way: you can create a new
+type variable, and what you get is `Ty<'tcx>` representing an
+unresolved type `?T`. Then later you can apply the various operations
+that the inferencer supports, such as equality or subtyping, and it
+will possibly **instantiate** (or **bind**) that `?T` to a specific
+value as a result.
+
+The region variables work somewhat differently, and are described
+below in a separate section.
+
+## Enforcing equality / subtyping
+
+The most basic operations you can perform in the type inferencer is
+**equality**, which forces two types `T` and `U` to be the same. The
+recommended way to add an equality constraint is using the `at`
+method, roughly like so:
+
+```
+infcx.at(...).eq(t, u);
+```
+
+The first `at()` call provides a bit of context, i.e., why you are
+doing this unification, and in what environment, and the `eq` method
+performs the actual equality constraint.
+
+When you equate things, you force them to be precisely equal. Equating
+returns a `InferResult` -- if it returns `Err(err)`, then equating
+failed, and the enclosing `TypeError` will tell you what went wrong.
+
+The success case is perhaps more interesting. The "primary" return
+type of `eq` is `()` -- that is, when it succeeds, it doesn't return a
+value of any particular interest. Rather, it is executed for its
+side-effects of constraining type variables and so forth. However, the
+actual return type is not `()`, but rather `InferOk<()>`. The
+`InferOk` type is used to carry extra trait obligations -- your job is
+to ensure that these are fulfilled (typically by enrolling them in a
+fulfillment context). See the [trait README] for more background here.
+
+[trait README]: ../traits/README.md
+
+You can also enforce subtyping through `infcx.at(..).sub(..)`. The same
+basic concepts apply as above.
+
+## "Trying" equality
+
+Sometimes you would like to know if it is *possible* to equate two
+types without error.  You can test that with `infcx.can_eq` (or
+`infcx.can_sub` for subtyping). If this returns `Ok`, then equality
+is possible -- but in all cases, any side-effects are reversed.
+
+Be aware though that the success or failure of these methods is always
+**modulo regions**. That is, two types `&'a u32` and `&'b u32` will
+return `Ok` for `can_eq`, even if `'a != 'b`.  This falls out from the
+"two-phase" nature of how we solve region constraints.
+
+## Snapshots
+
+As described in the previous section on `can_eq`, often it is useful
+to be able to do a series of operations and then roll back their
+side-effects. This is done for various reasons: one of them is to be
+able to backtrack, trying out multiple possibilities before settling
+on which path to take. Another is in order to ensure that a series of
+smaller changes take place atomically or not at all.
+
+To allow for this, the inference context supports a `snapshot` method.
+When you call it, it will start recording changes that occur from the
+operations you perform. When you are done, you can either invoke
+`rollback_to`, which will undo those changes, or else `confirm`, which
+will make the permanent. Snapshots can be nested as long as you follow
+a stack-like discipline.
+
+Rather than use snapshots directly, it is often helpful to use the
+methods like `commit_if_ok` or `probe` that encapsulate higher-level
+patterns.
+
+## Subtyping obligations
+
+One thing worth discussing are subtyping obligations. When you force
+two types to be a subtype, like `?T <: i32`, we can often convert those
+into equality constraints. This follows from Rust's rather limited notion
+of subtyping: so, in the above case, `?T <: i32` is equivalent to `?T = i32`.
+
+However, in some cases we have to be more careful. For example, when
+regions are involved. So if you have `?T <: &'a i32`, what we would do
+is to first "generalize" `&'a i32` into a type with a region variable:
+`&'?b i32`, and then unify `?T` with that (`?T = &'?b i32`). We then
+relate this new variable with the original bound:
+
+    &'?b i32 <: &'a i32
+    
+This will result in a region constraint (see below) of `'?b: 'a`.
+
+One final interesting case is relating two unbound type variables,
+like `?T <: ?U`.  In that case, we can't make progress, so we enqueue
+an obligation `Subtype(?T, ?U)` and return it via the `InferOk`
+mechanism. You'll have to try again when more details about `?T` or
+`?U` are known.
+
+## Region constraints
+
+Regions are inferred somewhat differently from types. Rather than
+eagerly unifying things, we simply collect constraints as we go, but
+make (almost) no attempt to solve regions. These constraints have the
+form of an outlives constraint:
+
+    'a: 'b
+    
+Actually the code tends to view them as a subregion relation, but it's the same
+idea:
+
+    'b <= 'a
+
+(There are various other kinds of constriants, such as "verifys"; see
+the `region_constraints` module for details.)
+
+There is one case where we do some amount of eager unification. If you have an equality constraint
+between two regions
+
+    'a = 'b
+    
+we will record that fact in a unification table. You can then use
+`opportunistic_resolve_var` to convert `'b` to `'a` (or vice
+versa). This is sometimes needed to ensure termination of fixed-point
+algorithms.
+
+## Extracting region constraints
+
+Ultimately, region constraints are only solved at the very end of
+type-checking, once all other constraints are known. There are two
+ways to solve region constraints right now: lexical and
+non-lexical. Eventually there will only be one.
+
+To solve **lexical** region constraints, you invoke
+`resolve_regions_and_report_errors`.  This will "close" the region
+constraint process and invoke the `lexical_region_resolve` code. Once
+this is done, any further attempt to equate or create a subtyping
+relationship will yield an ICE.
+
+Non-lexical region constraints are not handled within the inference
+context. Instead, the NLL solver (actually, the MIR type-checker)
+invokes `take_and_reset_region_constraints` periodically. This
+extracts all of the outlives constraints from the region solver, but
+leaves the set of variables intact. This is used to get *just* the
+region constraints that resulted from some particular point in the
+program, since the NLL solver needs to know not just *what* regions
+were subregions but *where*. Finally, the NLL solver invokes
+`take_region_var_origins`, which "closes" the region constraint
+process in the same way as normal solving.
+
+## Lexical region resolution
+
+Lexical region resolution is done by initially assigning each region
+variable to an empty value. We then process each outlives constraint
+repeatedly, growing region variables until a fixed-point is reached.
+Region variables can be grown using a least-upper-bound relation on
+the region lattice in a fairly straight-forward fashion.