rust-lang / rust-lang/rfcs

Named impls

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Description

As of right now all impls are anonymous and public. I propose named impls and named public impls:

impl X as Y for Z for a private impl

pub impl X as Y for Z for a public impl

This is similar to how traits currently work: you need to import them to use them.

With a non-pub impl, you can use it within your module. With a pub impl, you can use it outside your module. In any case, you need to explicitly import it with use. You can also import them from an external crate, but it follows the same rules - only available where you use them.

Later we could also add !pub impl Y for Z if we want crate-wide, anonymous impls. (Sadly, since they're already public by default, we can't have impl Y for Z and pub impl Y for Z, except maybe in Rust 2.0.)

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  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
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Research direction

Start by reading the proposed named-impl syntax and its comparison with trait imports in the issue. Work through the private, public, external-crate, and possible crate-wide visibility rules before proposing a design. No files or tests are named; done would require an accepted RFC-level resolution for the syntax and semantics.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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