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Extensible numeric literals

For Stage 1

Daniel Ehrenberg

Igalia

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Motivation

  • 1236536253453n BigInt (special case)
  • 4525i Imaginary numbers
  • 235435.461m IEEE 754-2008 64-bit decimal
  • 300px CSS Typed OM

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Semantics

1234i

-->

i("1234", 1234)

​

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Scoping details: Lexical?

function i() { ... }

import { i } from "literals.js";

1234i --> i("1234", 1234)

​

  • Hazard: i is likely to get shadowed

​

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Scoping details: Mangled?

function __literal_i() { ... }

import { __literal_i } from "literals.js";

1234i --> __literal_i("1234", 1234)

​

  • Downside: Ugly when it leaks

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Scoping details: Namespace?

function literal i() { ... }

import { literal i } from "literals.js";

1234i --> [literal i]("1234", 1234)

​

  • Could work, but complexity

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Scoping details: Object property?

Literals.i = function i() { ... }

import "literals.js"; // mutates Literals

1234i --> Literals.i("1234", 1234)

​

​

  • Global mutable object :(

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Status

  • Explainer
  • No spec text, implementations, tests, or Babel support
    • Need to answer scoping question first
  • Stage 1?