ENH: Support slack variables (lower bound emulation)
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- Python
- Stars
- 20.6k
- Forks
- 3.3k
- PR merge metrics
- PR metrics pending
Description
Describe the Bug
Context: https://github.com/python/typing/issues/674
Slack variables would allow us to emulate lower bounds on type variables, which is relevant for methods like dict.__or__ or list concatenation, when an outer context is present.
from typing import Never, assert_type, reveal_type
class Vec[T]: # invariant in T
def _items(self) -> list[T]: ...
def _append(self, item: T) -> None: ...
def concat_vecs[T1, T2, _T_slack=Never](
left: Vec[T1],
right: Vec[T2],
) -> Vec[T1 | T2 | _T_slack]: # <-- Slack variable makes return a supertype of T1 | T2
return Vec()
class A: ...
class B: ...
class C: ...
def test_vec_concat(left: Vec[A], right: Vec[B]) -> None:
# without outer context, the type is precise
assert_type(concat_vecs(left, right), Vec[A | B]) # ✅️
# outer context allows widening due to slack variables
_0: Vec[A | B] = concat_vecs(left, right) # ❌️
_1: Vec[A | B | C] = concat_vecs(left, right) # ❌️
_2: Vec[object] = concat_vecs(left, right) # ❌️
mypy fails to find existing solutions on some of these function calls:
_0: (T1=A,T2=B,_T_slack=Never)_1: (T1=A,T2=B,_T_slack=C)_2: (T1=A,T2=B,_T_slack=object)
21:38: error: Argument 1 to "concat_vecs" has incompatible type "Vec[A]"; expected "Vec[A | B]" [arg-type]
21:44: error: Argument 2 to "concat_vecs" has incompatible type "Vec[B]"; expected "Vec[A | B]" [arg-type]
22:38: error: Argument 1 to "concat_vecs" has incompatible type "Vec[A]"; expected "Vec[A | B | C]" [arg-type]
22:44: error: Argument 2 to "concat_vecs" has incompatible type "Vec[B]"; expected "Vec[A | B | C]" [arg-type]
23:38: error: Argument 1 to "concat_vecs" has incompatible type "Vec[A]"; expected "Vec[object]" [arg-type]
23:44: error: Argument 2 to "concat_vecs" has incompatible type "Vec[B]"; expected "Vec[object]" [arg-type]
no playground link as typevar defaults are still not supported.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with the Vec and concat_vecs reproduction in the issue, then read the linked python/typing issue 674 for the slack-variable context. No repository files or tests are named; done means the _0, _1, and _2 calls type-check with the stated widened result types.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- devtools
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100