fsharp / fsharp/fslang-suggestions
Make it illegal to pass a temporary ref-cell as byref
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Description
I propose we ... _Make it illegal to pass a temporary ref-cell as byref_
### related
(see https://github.com/Microsoft/visualfsharp/pull/5542)
With the F# 4.5 work, the following previously compiling code errors out:
```f#
type Incrementor(delta) =
member this.Increment(i : byref ) = i <- i + delta
let kvp = KeyValuePair(1, 2)
incrementor.Increment(&kvp.Value)
```
the reason is that this does __not__ take the address of ``.Value`` (which is a property), but instead copies it into a temporary local and takes the address of _that local_.
### suggestion
I suggest to do the same for the pattern
```f#
type Incrementor(delta) =
member this.Increment(i : byref ) = i <- i + delta
let i = 1
incrementor.Increment(ref i)
```
Everyone who isn't intimately familiar with ref-cells would expect the above code to mutate i. Instead it allocates a temporary ref-cell and takes the address of that.
It desugars to: ``incrementor.Increment(&({contents=x}.contents@))`` (where ``contents@`` is the backing field for the property)
Especially for people coming from C#, the difference between ``ref`` and ``&`` is confusing, doubly so because ``&`` is equivalent to the ``ref`` keyword in c#.
Note that the following code would still be legal, because ref-cells are just normal values which I can pass around:
```f#
let f (x: int ref) = () // this receives a ref-cell, not a byref
let i = 1
f (ref i)
```
## Pros and Cons
The advantages of making this adjustment to F# are ... 99.99% of occurrences of this pattern are bugs. I am tempted to say 100% but some people write horrible code.
The disadvantages of making this adjustment to F# are ... it's a breaking change
## Extra information
Estimated cost (XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL): S
Related suggestions: (put links to related suggestions here)
## Affidavit (please submit!)
Please tick this by placing a cross in the box:
* [x] This is not a question (e.g. like one you might ask on [stackoverflow](http://stackoverflow.com)) and I have searched stackoverflow for discussions of this issue
* [x] I have [searched both open and closed suggestions on this site](http://github.com/fsharp/fslang-suggestions/issues) and believe this is not a duplicate
* [x] This is not something which has obviously "already been decided" in previous versions of F#. If you're questioning a fundamental design decision that has obviously already been taken (e.g. "Make F# untyped") then please don't submit it.
Please tick all that apply:
* [ ] This is not a breaking change to the F# language design
* [ ] I or my company would be willing to help implement and/or test this
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