Defining `to_text` & co. as extension methods #14050

JaroslavTulach · 2025-09-24T14:22:13Z

Pull Request Description

in the tradition of Moving >, >=, <, <= to types where such operators make sense #14017
and previous Moving Warning related methods out of Any #13978
and Make Enso less "error oriented" language #14003
and Moving |> operator to Function #14004
let's make Enso less "to text oriented" language
there should be no API change for those who from Standard.Base import all

Important Notes

coming from Java with its Object.toString - one might be fine with to_text in Any
- however pretty and to_display_text clearly seem weird
moreover my object oriented roots are in Turbo Pascal 5.5
- the root object there - the TObject had no methods at all!
- while clean (e.g. Turbo Pascal was no "something oriented language", but trully just an object oriented language) - I don't call for that in case of Enso
- ultimatelly I'd like Enso to be "conversion oriented language" - e.g. Any.to is perfectly fine in the root type
with all the extension method capabilities Enso has, I believe moving to_display_text, pretty out of Any is a completely legitimate goal

Checklist

Please ensure that the following checklist has been satisfied before submitting the PR:

The documentation has been updated, if necessary.
All code follows the style guide.
API tests have been updated.
Unit tests continue to pass.
Extra nightly tests are fully green.

jdunkerley

Going to need to add from project.Data.Text.Extensions import all to a lot of files in Standard.Base.
Think about 57 files need it added,

JaroslavTulach · 2025-09-26T10:27:20Z

Going to need to add from project.Data.Text.Extensions import all to a lot of files in Standard.Base. Think about 57 files need it added,

why do we need to add such imports?
all the tests seem to be green?
is there some other test that's failing and I should fix it?

jdunkerley · 2025-09-26T10:57:29Z

Going to need to add from project.Data.Text.Extensions import all to a lot of files in Standard.Base. Think about 57 files need it added,

why do we need to add such imports?

all the tests seem to be green?

is there some other test that's failing and I should fix it?

Take Random.enso it has a call to make a uuid: uuid self = UUID.randomUUID.to_text
Guessing we don't have a test on this method (our coverage is slowly improving but far from 100%).

This would have worked previously but will now error as this code does not import Text extensions.

jdunkerley · 2025-09-26T10:58:59Z

Ones I suspect (but maybe false positives):

distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Any.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Array.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Decimal.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Index_Sub_Range.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Interval.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/List.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Maybe.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Number_Utils.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Numbers.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Range.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Read/Many_Files_List.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Read/Return_As.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Regression.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Statistics.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Text/Case_Sensitivity.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Text/Encoding.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Text/Text_Ordering.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Text/Text_Sub_Range.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Time/Date_Range.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Time/Date_Time_Formatter.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Time/Time_Zone.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Data/Vector.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Enso_Cloud/Enso_User.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Enso_Cloud/Errors.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Enso_Cloud/Public_Utils.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Error.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Errors/Common.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Errors/Empty_Error.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Errors/File_Error.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Errors/No_Such_Key.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Errors/Time_Error.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Errors/Wrapped_Error.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Function.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Internal/Array_Like_Helpers.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Internal/Context_Helpers.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Internal/Instrumentor.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Internal/Rounding_Helpers.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Internal/Time/Format/Analyzer.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Internal/Time/Format/As_Java_Formatter_Interpreter.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Meta.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Metadata.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Network/HTTP/HTTP_Error.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Panic.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Random.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Runtime/Source_Location.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/System/Advanced/Restartable_Input_Stream.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/System/Encoding/Encoding_Resolver.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/System/File.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/System/File/Advanced/Temporary_File.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/System/File/File_Access.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/System/File/Generic/File_Like.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/System/File/Generic/Writable_File.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/System/File/Local_File_Write_Strategy.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/System/Process/Exit_Code.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/System/Process/Process_Builder.enso
distribution/lib/Standard/Base/0.0.0-dev/src/Widget_Helpers.enso

JaroslavTulach · 2025-09-27T09:59:21Z

Ones I suspect (but maybe false positives):

I was also expecting bunch of failures
but apparently the CI is green enough
somehow the Any.to_text method must become available without changing the imports...

…oText

JaroslavTulach · 2025-10-07T08:03:42Z

somehow the Any.to_text method must become available without changing the imports...

I am trying to run:

main n=10 = n.to_text+n.to_text

and it continues to work. Why? Because builtin methods are still registered:

"main"
	at org.enso.interpreter.runtime.TruffleCompilerModuleScopeBuilder.registerMethod(.java:112)
	at org.enso.interpreter.runtime.builtin.BuiltinsRegistry.lambda$registerBuiltinMethodsLazily$3(:326)
	at org.enso.interpreter.runtime.builtin.BuiltinsRegistry$$Lambda/0x000072aea32a1938.accept
	at java.util.HashMap.forEach(HashMap.java:1430)
	at org.enso.interpreter.runtime.builtin.BuiltinsRegistry.registerBuiltinMethodsLazily(BuiltinsRegistry.java:319)
	at org.enso.interpreter.runtime.builtin.BuiltinsRegistry.<init>(BuiltinsRegistry.java:56)
	at org.enso.interpreter.runtime.builtin.Builtins.<init>(Builtins.java:114)

that includes also Any.to_text method:

Thus technically we are changing very little by moving the definition to extension methods. It just looks differently (and hopefully better from API perspective), but behaves as it used to. A rewrite of how we deal with builtin types is left for another PR exercise.

Enso, at it roots, is a **conversion oriented language**. Enso supports flexible definitions of conversions of values of a type to another. To stress the importance of conversions in usage of the Enso language, there is `Any.to target_type` method available on any value in the Enso system that allows to _morph and view any object as a different type_ easily when such a conversion is available. In addition to that Enso is **structured equality oriented language**. There is `Any.==` operator that allows any two values to be compared for equality. The comparison is based on structure - e.g. two instances of the same atom with equal fields are the same. Enso provides such a _structured equality_ implementation to every user defined type automatically, yet it also offers more complex equality handling when needed (via `Comparable` type). Enso is **conversion and** (structured) **equality oriented language**. That fact is stressed by the shape of its root type `Any`. It exposes just `.to`, `==` and `!=` operations. # Important Notes - To fulfill the promise of Enso being **conversion and equality oriented language** - this PR proposes to turn `Nothing` related methods into _extension methods_ - e.g. to move them out of `Any` type into `Nothing` type - the change is supposed to be compatible for everyone using `from Standard.Base import all` - this PR is the final step finishing the work previously started by - #14004 - #14003 - #13978 - #14017 - #14050 - in the tradition of those PRs let's argue: - it is better to be somebody, or at least anybody - nobody wants to feel like `Nothing` - hence we don't want Enso to feel like "nothing oriented language" - as such `Nothing` related methods should be provided only as extension methods! - on a more technical note: `obj.is_nothing.not` can actually be written as `obj!=Nothing`, not sure why we prefer the former (and longer) variant? Maybe some FP bias!?

Defining to_text & co. as extension methods

433ee33

JaroslavTulach self-assigned this Sep 24, 2025

JaroslavTulach requested review from AdRiley, GregoryTravis, hubertp and jdunkerley as code owners September 24, 2025 14:22

JaroslavTulach changed the title ~~Defining to_text & co. as extension methods~~ Defining to_text & co. as extension methods Sep 24, 2025

github-actions bot added the -libs-API-change-Base Marks a PR that changes the public API of Standard.Base label Sep 24, 2025

GregoryTravis approved these changes Sep 24, 2025

View reviewed changes

enso-bot bot mentioned this pull request Sep 25, 2025

Moving >, >=, <, <= to types where such operators make sense #14017

Merged

5 tasks

jdunkerley approved these changes Sep 26, 2025

View reviewed changes

JaroslavTulach added 2 commits October 6, 2025 13:28

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/develop' into wip/jtulach/AnyNoT…

94cdf69

…oText

Note in changelog

fc99cd6

JaroslavTulach added the CI: Ready to merge This PR is eligible for automatic merge label Oct 7, 2025

mergify bot merged commit 7d3e1eb into develop Oct 9, 2025
159 of 165 checks passed

mergify bot deleted the wip/jtulach/AnyNoToText branch October 9, 2025 15:36

JaroslavTulach mentioned this pull request Oct 10, 2025

Make Enso "conversion and equality oriented" language #14133

Merged

4 tasks

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

Uh oh!

Defining `to_text` & co. as extension methods #14050

Defining `to_text` & co. as extension methods #14050

Uh oh!

JaroslavTulach commented Sep 24, 2025 •

edited

Loading

Uh oh!

jdunkerley left a comment •

edited

Loading

Uh oh!

JaroslavTulach commented Sep 26, 2025

Uh oh!

jdunkerley commented Sep 26, 2025

Uh oh!

jdunkerley commented Sep 26, 2025 •

edited

Loading

Uh oh!

JaroslavTulach commented Sep 27, 2025

Uh oh!

JaroslavTulach commented Oct 7, 2025 •

edited

Loading

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

4 participants

Defining to_text & co. as extension methods #14050

Defining to_text & co. as extension methods #14050

Uh oh!

Conversation

JaroslavTulach commented Sep 24, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Pull Request Description

Important Notes

Checklist

Uh oh!

jdunkerley left a comment • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

JaroslavTulach commented Sep 26, 2025

Uh oh!

jdunkerley commented Sep 26, 2025

Uh oh!

jdunkerley commented Sep 26, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

JaroslavTulach commented Sep 27, 2025

Uh oh!

JaroslavTulach commented Oct 7, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

4 participants

Defining `to_text` & co. as extension methods #14050

Defining `to_text` & co. as extension methods #14050

JaroslavTulach commented Sep 24, 2025 •

edited

Loading

jdunkerley left a comment •

edited

Loading

jdunkerley commented Sep 26, 2025 •

edited

Loading

JaroslavTulach commented Oct 7, 2025 •

edited

Loading