fsharp / fsharp/fslang-suggestions

Extend available suffixes for numeric literals

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#845 0 comments 3 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
area: primitives-and-literals
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Description

I propose we extend available suffixes for numeric literals to include all capital and small English alphabets after F. The reason for not allowing A to F is to avoid ambiguities after supporting [hexadecimal integer literals](https://github.com/fsharp/fslang-suggestions/issues/754).

The existing way of approaching this problem in F# is using the current set of suffixes Q, R, Z, I, N and G.

## Pros and Cons

The advantages of making this adjustment to F# are
1. Allowing more numeric literals without suffix collision.
```fs
module NumericLiterali =
let inline FromZero() = System.Numerics.Complex.Zero
let inline FromOne() = System.Numerics.Complex.ImaginaryOne
let inline FromInt32 (n:int) = System.Numerics.Complex(0., float n)
let bigInteger = 1I
let complex = 1i
```
2. Allowing for suffixes that make more sense. For example, with a [System.Half](https://gist.github.com/vermorel/1d5c0212752b3e611faf84771ad4ff0d), we can write
```fs
module NumericLiteralh =
let inline FromZero() = System.Half 0.f
let inline FromOne() = System.Half 1.f
let inline FromInt32 (n:int) = System.Half n
let half = 1h // Not Q, R, Z, I, N or G which don't make sense for a half literal.
```
3. Less rote memorization of rules! (what do QRZING stand for, anyways?)

The disadvantage of making this adjustment to F# is the decreased ability for F#e to add new numeric literals without breaking changes. However, this can be handled with the same way as BigInteger literals where `NumericLiteralI` can be overridden by users.

## Extra information

Estimated cost (XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL): M

Related suggestions:
#754
#844

## 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:
* [x] This is not a breaking change to the F# language design
* [x] I or my company would be willing to help implement and/or test this

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Start by reviewing related suggestions #754 and #844, since this issue names no files, tests, or implementation entry points. Done would mean the proposed additional numeric-literal suffixes are supported without the hexadecimal ambiguity described here, with the behavior covered by appropriate tests.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
fsharp
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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