From 8686c4c3a0b54b40db2efbd377c0cbc8e7aad6b6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Andreas Rumpf <rumpf_a@web.de>
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 15:38:19 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Created Feature Matrix (markdown)

---
 Feature-Matrix.md | 269 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 269 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Feature-Matrix.md

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+<table>
+
+<tr>
+  <th>Language feature</th>
+
+  <th>Scheduled for</th>
+
+  <th>Notes</th>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Automatic dereference in more contexts</td>
+
+  <td>0.9.6</td>
+
+  <td>important to be able to write more generic containers easily</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>support overloading of the assignment operator</td>
+
+  <td>0.9.6</td>
+
+  <td>like <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">fields</span></tt> and destructors an assignment operator needs to be lifted</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>destructors need to interact with finalizers</td>
+
+  <td>0.9.6</td>
+
+  <td>destructors and finalizers are implemented, but do not interact. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">new</span></tt> which takes a finalizer needs to be deprecated. People should use a destructor instead</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>the new concurrency model</td>
+
+  <td>0.9.6</td>
+
+  <td>this requires frontend and backend changes, but no changes to the runtime/GC</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>weaken the requirements for forward declarations</td>
+
+  <td>after 1.0</td>
+
+  <td>two different design ideas exist: one conservative and so will work, the other highly experimental</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>comment handling is weird</td>
+
+  <td>0.9.6</td>
+
+  <td>comments should be optional and not part of the grammar, unless it is a documentation comment</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>push pragma needs to be reworked</td>
+
+  <td>after 1.0</td>
+
+  <td>it should be distinguished between 'push' for 'type', 'proc' etc.</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>pragmas are not supported for 'bindSym'</td>
+
+  <td>0.9.6</td>
+
+  <td>this makes clean macros impossible to write when it comes to pragmas</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>type checking for tuples</td>
+
+  <td>0.9.8</td>
+
+  <td>needs to be refined. Recursive tuples should be forbidden.</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>extended macros API</td>
+
+  <td>0.9.8</td>
+
+  <td>missing: an API for working with types; the builtin getImpl</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>write tracking</td>
+
+  <td>0.9.8</td>
+
+  <td>algorithm exists. Can be extended to compute lent pointers.</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>prevent object branch transitions from low(selector)</td>
+
+  <td>after 1.0</td>
+
+  <td>object branch transitions from low(selector) are allowed, because they are simply too useful, but can break memory safety. Now that the language has a proper notion of construction, we can make them safe.</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">~</span></tt> operator for effects</td>
+
+  <td>after 1.0</td>
+
+  <td>it is not entirely clear what <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">~F</span></tt> should mean.</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>some effects like <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">GCMem</span></tt> don't need to be white-listed</td>
+
+  <td>after 1.0</td>
+
+  <td>unclear whether this only affects built-in properties like <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">GCMem</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Recursive</span></tt>.</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>returning 'var T' is unsafe and needs static analysis to make safe</td>
+
+  <td>after 1.0</td>
+
+  <td>the compiler already checks for trivial examples</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>alias analysis needs to specified and controllable with pragmas</td>
+
+  <td>after 1.0</td>
+
+  <td>alias analysis affects memory safety rules</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>term rewriting macros need more love</td>
+
+  <td>after 1.0</td>
+
+  <td>we need much more tests and use them in production</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+<tr>
+  <th>Compiler feature</th>
+
+  <th>Scheduled for</th>
+
+  <th>Notes</th>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>high level optimizer</td>
+
+  <td>after 1.0</td>
+
+  <td>use the effect system for optimizations; interacts with TR macros; 
+      performs:<ul>
+      <li>GCSE</li>
+
+      <li>loop invariant hoisting</li>
+
+      <li>escape analysis for string/seq</li>
+
+      <li>inlining of small lambdas</li>
+
+    </ul>
+
+  </td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr><td>pure RC'ing GC</td>
+
+  <td>after 1.0</td>
+
+  <td>important for better interoperability with Objective-C</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>GPU backend</td>
+
+  <td>after 1.0</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>symbol files</td>
+
+  <td>after 1.0</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td>deterministic code generation</td>
+
+  <td>0.9.8</td>
+
+</tr>
+
+</table>