TITLE

Better constants and constant folding

VERSION

  Maintainer: John Siracusa <siracusa@mindspring.com>
  Date: 15 Aug 2000
  Last Modified: 16 Aug 2000
  Mailing List: perl6-language@perl.org
  Number: 113
  Version: 2
  Status: Retired

STATUS

This has been integrated with RFC 83.

This RFC was retracted by the author on 16 Aug 2000.

ABSTRACT

There are many ways to use named "constants" in Perl, but they all have drawbacks: runtime initialization costs, the extra overhead of loading another module, the inability to use the constants in certain situations, and so on.

Constants should be first-class citizens in Perl, and should be constant folded with a vengeance by a clever compiler.

DESCRIPTION

An ideal Perl constant can be used anywhere that a Perl variable of the same type can be used: a constant scalar can be used in place of any scalar, a constant array can be used in place of any array, and so on. These constants should not incur runtime inefficiencies or undue compile-time overhead. Performance should be should be exactly as if the data was hard-coded in place.

IMPLEMENTATION

The simplest solution is something like:

    constant $PI = 3.14159265;

This looks shockingly similar to the current, much maligned (by me, anyway) constant module:

    use constant PI => 3.14159265;

but the former has many syntactic advantages. First, there's no "use" directive to reveal the constant's second-class citizenship. Second, it uses the assignment operator instead of the "fancy comma." Third, context is determined by the left-hand-side of the assignment operator instead of always being forced into list context.

Using these constants is simple. They behave just like variables of the same type.

    print "Would you like some apple $PI?"; # A constant string

That whole string is converted to a single constant at compile time. Collections behave in a similar manner:

    constant @FISH = (1, 2, 'red', 'blue');
    
    print @FISH;   # prints "12redblue"
    print "@FISH"; # prints "1 2 red blue"

    print "$FISH[2] head"; # prints "red head"

Again, each argument to print is converted to a constant string at compile time.

Modification of a constant is a compile-time error:

    $PI = 5;           # Bzzt!
    $PI =~ s/\.\d+$//; # Sorry
    $#FISH = 15;       # Nice try

The constant keyword should work when combined with my and our:

    package Foo;
    
    our constant $GOO = 5;
    
    if(...)
    {
      my constant $GOO = 10;
      
      print $GOO; # Prints 10
    }

As an added implementation bonus, "constant methods" should be supported in the same way that "constant subroutines are now.

    package MyConstants;
    constant $PI = 3.14159265;

    package MyClass;
    ...
    sub method { $MyConstants::PI }
    
    package MyLib;
    ...
    sub func { $MyConstants::PI } # Shouldn't have to be sub func() ...

Both method() and func() should know that they return constants, and the compiler should optimize them away whenever possible, even without explicit hints like an empty "()" prototype after func. Yes, there are issues with turning a method call into a constant at compile time, but it's possible if Perl can determine with certainty that MyClass::method is the actual code that will be executed by an object or class method call. Example:

    my $obj = MyClass->new;
    
    print $obj->method();    # Converted to the constant 3.14159265
    print MyClass->method(); # Ditto

Again, this magic is accomplished by a clever compiler that does not need this type of help:

    my MyClass $obj = MyClass->new; # Not necessary, ideally

As should be clear by now, I'm not too familiar with the perl internals that are required to support this stuff. It just "seems possible" to me. And hey, there are no "perl internals" to speak of yet in a "clean-sheet" implementation, right?

REFERENCES

Perl's constant pragma documentation.