vercel-labs / vercel-labs/python-typemap
[Question] Integer `Literal` arithmetic for, *e.g.*, physical units?
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Description
Hello! Apologies beforehand for polluting the repo's issues with questions tangential to PEP 827.
For the past few days I've been banging my head against Python's type system trying to replace a dependency on the otherwise excellent pint library with my own bare-bones implementation. I'm by no means a computer scientist nor a professional programmer, so I've struggled to come up with a way to express physical units' dimensionality through the type system.
While racking my brain I came upon PEP 827 and I found the array shape example particularly fitting. Does your current proposal allow for performing arithmetic operations on integer literals? E.g., Literal[1] + Literal[2] resolving to Literal[3]. Is there even a way to represent any integer literal similarly to LiteralString?
For further context, here is a toy example of what I'm trying to achieve:
from decimal import Decimal
from fractions import Fraction
from typing import Any, Literal, Self, final, overload, reveal_type
from typemap_extensions import GetArg, IsAssignable, RaiseError
type Range[T] = tuple[Literal[i] for i in ...] # How would one generate a tuple of integer `Literal`s?
type AddDims[T, S] = (
tuple[GetArg[T, tuple, i] + GetArg[S, tuple, i] for i in Range[Length[T]]] # Can integer `Literal`s be added?
if IsAssignable[Length[T], Length[S]] # Units belong to same system
else RaiseError[Literal["Incompatible unit system"], T, S]
)
type EqDims[T, S] = (
T
if IsAssignable[T, S]
else RaiseError[Literal["Incompatible dimensions"], T, S]
)
@final
class Unit[*T]:
"""Physical unit abstraction."""
def __init__(self: Self, dimensions: tuple[*T], /) -> None:
"""Infer dimensionality from exponents."""
self.dimensions: tuple[*T] = dimensions
@overload
def __mul__[*S](
self: Self, other: Unit[*S], /
) -> Unit[AddDims[tuple[*T], tuple[*S]]]: ...
@overload
def __mul__[S: (Decimal, Fraction)](
self: Self, other: S, /
) -> Quantity[S, *T]: ...
def __mul__(self: Self, other: Any, /) -> Any:
"""Return `Unit` with computed dimensions or `Quantity`."""
raise NotImplementedError()
def __rmul__[S: (Decimal, Fraction)](
self: Self, other: S, /
) -> Quantity[S, *T]:
"""Return `Quantity` from scalar and `Unit`."""
raise NotImplementedError()
@final
class Quantity[T: (Decimal, Fraction), *S]:
"""Physical quantity abstraction."""
def __init__(self: Self, magnitude: T, unit: Unit[*S], /) -> None:
"""Infer dimensionality from `Unit`."""
self.magnitude: T = magnitude
self.unit: Unit[*S] = unit
def __add__[*U](
self: Self, other: Quantity[T, *U], /
) -> Quantity[T, EqDims[tuple[*S], tuple[*U]]]:
"""Disallow addition when dimensions do not match."""
raise NotImplementedError()
# Expected behavior:
s = Unit((0, 1))
mps = Unit((1, -1))
reveal_type(s) # Unit[Literal[0], Literal[1]]
reveal_type(mps) # Unit[Literal[1], Literal[-1]]
m = s * mps
reveal_type(m) # Unit[Literal[1], Literal[0]]
dist = Decimal(10) * m
speed = Decimal(1) * mps
reveal_type(dist) # Quantity[Decimal, Unit[Literal[1], Literal[0]]
reveal_type(speed) # Quantity[Decimal, Unit[Literal[1], Literal[-1]]]
reveal_type(dist + dist) # Quantity[Decimal, Unit[Literal[1], Literal[0]]]
reveal_type(dist + speed) # Error: Incompatible dimensions
Range and AddDims are pseudo-code; I'm not exactly sure whether the operation would be allowed and whether that's how you'd retrieve the exponent from the tuple.
Does this kind of behavior fit within the scope of the PEP? Or would it require additional modifications to the type system such as allowing subclassing or changing how Literals are inferred?
Looking forward to hearing what becomes of the PEP regardless; we're all sure to find some interesting applications for the proposed additions!
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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 reading the referenced PEP 827 and compare its array-shape example with the Unit and Quantity toy implementation in this issue. Determine whether integer Literal arithmetic, generated integer Literal ranges, and dimension checks fit the proposal; done means documenting the supported behavior and any required type-system changes.
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Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- tooling
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100