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Clarify definition of "input positions" in lifetime elision RFC.
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Explicitly note that lifetimes from the `impl` (and `trait`/`struct`)
are not considered "input positions" for the purposes of expanded `fn`
definitions.

Added a collection of examples illustrating this.

Drive-by: Addressed a review comment from @chris-morgan
[here](rust-lang#141 (comment)).
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pnkfelix authored and glaebhoerl committed Aug 8, 2014
1 parent d452441 commit de6f577
Showing 1 changed file with 36 additions and 3 deletions.
39 changes: 36 additions & 3 deletions active/0039-lifetime-elision.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -94,14 +94,21 @@ elided a single lifetime.

Lifetime positions can appear as either "input" or "output":

* For `fn` definitions, input refers to argument types while output refers to
* For `fn` definitions, input refers to the types of the formal arguments
in the `fn` definition, while output refers to
result types. So `fn foo(s: &str) -> (&str, &str)` has elided one lifetime in
input position and two lifetimes in output position.
Note that the input positions of a `fn` method definition do not
include the lifetimes that occur in the method's `impl` header
`impl` (nor lifetimes that occur in the trait header, for a default
method).


* For `impl` headers, input refers to the lifetimes appears in the type
receiving the `impl`, while output refers to the trait, if any. So `impl<'a>
Foo<'a>` has `'a` in input position, while `impl<'a> SomeTrait<'a> Foo<'a>`
has `'a` in both input and output positions.
Foo<'a>` has `'a` in input position, while `impl<'a, 'b, 'c>
SomeTrait<'b, 'c> for Foo<'a, 'c>` has `'a` in input position, `'b`
in output position, and `'c` in both input and output positions.

### The rules

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -152,6 +159,32 @@ impl<'a, 'b> Reader for (&'a str, &'b str) { ... } // expanded

impl StrSlice for &str { ... } // elided
impl<'a> StrSlice<'a> for &'a str { ... } // expanded

trait Bar<'a> { fn bound(&'a self) -> &int { ... } fn fresh(&self) -> &int { ... } } // elided
trait Bar<'a> { fn bound(&'a self) -> &'a int { ... } fn fresh<'b>(&'b self) -> &'b int { ... } } // expanded

impl Bar for &str { fn bound(&self) -> &int { ... } } // elided
impl<'a> Bar<'a> for &'a str { fn bound<'b>(&'b self) -> &'b int { ... } } // expanded

// Note that the preceding example's expanded methods do not match the
// signatures from the above trait definition for `Bar`, and in the
// general case the expanded `impl` may not be compatible with the given
// `trait` (and thus would not compile).

impl Bar for &str { fn fresh(&self) -> &int { ... } } // elided
impl<'a> Bar<'a> for &'a str { fn fresh<'b>(&'b self) -> &'b int { ... } } // expanded

impl Bar for &str {
fn bound(&'a self) -> &'a int { ... } fn fresh(&self) -> &int { ... } // ILLEGAL: unbound 'a
}

impl<'a> Bar<'a> for &'a str {
fn bound(&'a self) -> &'a int { ... } fn fresh(&self) -> &int { ... } // elided
}
impl<'a> Bar<'a> for &'a str {
fn bound(&'a self) -> &'a int { ... } fn fresh<'b>(&'b self) -> &'b int { ... } // expanded
}

```

## Error messages
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