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Move builtins.pipe to the alternatives section

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piegames 2024-07-21 10:44:49 +02:00
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rfcs/0148-pipe-operator.md
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@ -109,29 +109,6 @@ It is defined as function application with the order of arguments swapped: `f a`
It is left-associative and has a binding strength weaker than function application:
`a |> f |> g b |> h` = `h ((g b) (f a))`.
## `builtins.pipe`
`lib.pipe`'s functionality is implemented as a built-in function.
The main motivation for this is that it allows to give better error messages
like line numbers when some part of the pipeline fails:
Currently `lib.pipe` internally uses a fold over the list,
therefore any type mismatches will give a trace which points into `lib.fold`,
leaving the user without the information at which stage of the pipeline it failed.
(This is less of a problem when used in packages, but significant enough that currently,
`lib.pipe` unfortunately should not be used in the implementation of any library functions.)
This could probably be fixed within Nixpkgs alone,
however not without incurring a significant performance penalty for using "reflection".
A built-in operator would be able to provide this more detailed error information basically for free.
Additionally, it allows easy usage outside of Nixpkgs and increases discoverability.
While Nixpkgs is bound to minimum Nix versions and thus `|>` won't be available until
several years after its initial implementation,
it can directly benefit from `builtins.pipe` and its better error diagnostic by overriding `lib.pipe`.
Elevating a Nixpkgs library function to a builtin has been done several times before,
for example `bitAnd`, `splitVersion` and `concatStringsSep`.
# Examples and Interactions
[examples-and-interactions]: #examples-and-interactions
@ -145,12 +122,8 @@ No fundamentally new semantics are introduced to the language.
## Nixpkgs interaction
`lib.pipe` will default to `builtins.pipe` and use its current implementation only as a fallback.
Documentation will be updated to encourage using `builtins.pipe` more.
As soon as the Nixpkgs minimum version contains `|>`, using it will be allowed and encouraged in the documentation.
There might be efforts to automatically convert existing `builtins.pipe` usage or even discourage/deprecate using that,
There might be efforts to automatically convert existing `lib.pipe` usage or even discourage/deprecate using that,
see future work.
### Existing lib functions
@ -298,11 +271,37 @@ f (g x)
The biggest disadvantage with it is backwards compatibility of adding a new keyword into the language,
which would require solving language versioning first (see RFC #137).
## `builtins.pipe`
`lib.pipe`'s functionality could be implemented as a built-in function.
The main motivation for this is that it allows to give better error messages
like line numbers when some part of the pipeline fails:
Currently `lib.pipe` internally uses a fold over the list,
therefore any type mismatches will give a trace which points into `lib.fold`,
leaving the user without the information at which stage of the pipeline it failed.
(This is less of a problem when used in packages, but significant enough that currently,
`lib.pipe` unfortunately should not be used in the implementation of any library functions.)
This could probably be fixed within Nixpkgs alone,
however not without incurring a significant performance penalty for using "reflection".
A built-in operator would be able to provide this more detailed error information basically for free.
Additionally, it allows easy usage outside of Nixpkgs and increases discoverability.
While Nixpkgs is bound to minimum Nix versions and thus `|>` won't be available until
several years after its initial implementation,
it can directly benefit from `builtins.pipe` and its better error diagnostic by overriding `lib.pipe`.
Elevating a Nixpkgs library function to a builtin has been done several times before,
for example `bitAnd`, `splitVersion` and `concatStringsSep`.
The main drawback is that once `|>` is available, there is little use for `builtins.pipe` anymore,
so the main purpose of that would be as a stop-gap for Nixpkgs
until the minimum Nix version is sufficiently high to allow using `|>`.
# Drawbacks
[drawbacks]: #drawbacks
- Introducing `|>` has the drawback of adding complexity to the language, and it will break older tooling.
- The main purpose of `builtins.pipe` is as a stop-gap until Nixpkgs can use `|>`. After that, it will be mostly redundant.
# Unresolved questions
[unresolved]: #unresolved-questions