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Discussion on: Ruby – Pattern Matching – Second Impressions

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katafrakt profile image
Paweł Świątkowski

Thanks for giving a proper name for what I'm looking for. Neither pattern matching nor method overload mentioned above did not seem correct. Multiple dispatch clicks.

Perhaps you're right that it soudn't be so hard to implement. But wouldn't it break backwards compatibility somehow? Ruby core team is known for keeping it at all costs.

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vidarh profile image
Vidar Hokstad

It would break semantics if overloads are allowed in a way that is syntactically valid in older code. So the challenge would be to pick syntax to specify the type signatures that can not occur in old working code.

Finding syntax that doesn't look awful but that is currently invalid would actually likely be the hardest part of adding support for it.