rust-lang / rust-lang/rust-clippy
unnecessary_cast fix suggestion introduces compile error for (expr_with_float_literals as f64).powf(2.0)
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Description
Summary
The following code triggers the lint:
((1.0 / 8.0) as f64).powf(i as f64)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ help: try: `(1.0 / 8.0)`
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= help: for further information visit https://rust-lang.github.io/rust-clippy/master/index.html#unnecessary_cast
= note: `-D clippy::unnecessary-cast` implied by `-D warnings`
= help: to override `-D warnings` add `#[allow(clippy::unnecessary_cast)]`
The problem is that when the code is "fixed" according to the suggestion ((1.0 / 8.0).powf(i as f64)), the rust compiler gives the following error
can't call method `powf` on ambiguous numeric type `{float}`
so it's not really an unnecessary cast, since the compiler needs the type information for powf. I can work around it by doing 1.0f64 / 8.0f64 to avoid needing to cast while still having sufficient information to allow powf to disambiguate
Reproducer
No response
Version
rustc 1.85.0 (4d91de4e4 2025-02-17)
binary: rustc
commit-hash: 4d91de4e48198da2e33413efdcd9cd2cc0c46688
commit-date: 2025-02-17
host: x86_64-apple-darwin
release: 1.85.0
LLVM version: 19.1.7
Additional Labels
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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 by reproducing the shown (expr_with_float_literals as f64).powf(2.0) case and inspect the unnecessary_cast lint and its suggestion. Done means the lint no longer emits a suggestion that causes an ambiguous numeric type compile error, with regression coverage for this expression.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- tooling
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 50/100