Compiler updates:
- Data types with a single constructor, with a single unerased arguments,
are translated to just that argument, to save repeated packing and unpacking.
(c.f.
newtype
in Haskell)- A data type can opt out of this behaviour by specifying
noNewtype
in its options list.noNewtype
allows code generators to apply special handling to the generated constructor/deconstructor, for a newtype-like data type, that would otherwise be optimised away.
- A data type can opt out of this behaviour by specifying
- 0-multiplicity constructor arguments are now properly erased, not just given a placeholder null value.
Language extensions:
- %transform directive, for declaring transformation rules on runtime expressions. Transformation rules are automatically added for top level implementations of interfaces.
- A %spec flag on functions which allows arguments to be marked for partial evaluation, following the rules from "Scrapping Your Inefficient Engine" (ICFP 2010, Brady & Hammond)
Library additions:
- Additional file management operations in
base
- New modules in
contrib
for time (System.Clock
); JSON (Language.JSON.*
); random numbers (System.Random
)
Other improvements:
-
Various performance improvements in the typechecker:
- Noting which metavariables are blocking unification constraints, so that they only get retried if those metavariables make progress.
- Evaluating
fromInteger
at compile time. - In the run-time, reuse the old heap after garbage collection if it hasn't been resized, to avoid unnecessary system calls.
-
Extend Idris2's literate mode to support reading Markdown and OrgMode files. For more details see: https://idris2.readthedocs.io/en/latest/reference/literate.html
-
Fields of records can be accessed (and updated) using the dot syntax, such as
r.field1.field2
orrecord { field1.field2 = 42 }
. For details, see https://idris2.readthedocs.io/en/latest/reference/records.html
Everything :). For full details, see: https://idris2.readthedocs.io/en/latest/updates/updates.html