Files
AILang/design/contracts/tail-calls.md
T
Brummel bcd41810f4 design/ + source rustdoc: replace opaque shorthand with content phrases + links
Reader-facing prose and rustdoc carried opaque shorthand like
"Decision 10", "clause-5", "mq.1", "ct.1", "eob.1", "rpe.1",
"post-mq.3", and "Iter 22b.1:" with no in-repo definition the reader
could follow. This commit replaces every such occurrence in the
durable tier the reader is most likely to land on (design/ ledger +
source //! module headers + the central /// public-item rustdoc) with
an inline content phrase plus, where applicable, a Markdown link to
the file that defines the referenced concept.

design/ ledger — 16 files:
  Definition-site headings demoted from "Decision N: <title>" to
  "<title>": authoring-surface, tail-calls, memory-model section in
  rc-uniqueness.md, dual-allocator section, typeclass design,
  effects "pure core + algebraic effects".
  Cross-reference sites: "Decision 1" -> canonical-schema principle
  (data-model); "Decision 3/4" -> effects + scope-boundaries; "Decision
  6" -> authoring-surface; "Decision 8" -> tail-calls; "Decision 9" ->
  rc-uniqueness (dual-allocator); "Decision 10" -> memory-model;
  "Decision 11" -> typeclasses (model). "clause-5" -> body-link
  durability gate. "clause-3" (in language-constraints) ->
  bug-class-reintroduction discriminator. "mq.1/2/3", "ct.1/4",
  "eob.1", "rpe.1" -> the canonical-form rule / the type-driven
  dispatch / the Str carve-out / etc. "post-mq.3" -> "type-driven".

design/contracts/feature-acceptance.md: file-local "clauses 1/2/3"
-> "criteria 1/2/3" (sprachliche Kohärenz mit der File-Überschrift
"Feature-acceptance criterion"); "the clause-3 mechanism" -> "the
bug-class-reintroduction discriminator".

Source //! module headers — 24 files:
  Stripped "Iter X.Y:" prefixes and "(Decision N)" / "(mq.X)" tags
  from spec_drift, uniqueness, reuse_shape, migrate_canonical_types,
  typeclass_22b{2,3,c}, suppress_filter, lift, mono, linearity,
  diagnostic, method_dispatch_pin, method_collision_pin,
  no_per_type_print_ops, mq3_multi_class_e2e, print_mono_body_shape,
  print_no_leak_pin, cli_diag_human_workspace_load_error,
  ct1_check_cli, prose snapshot, unbound_in_instance_method_pin,
  mono_xmod_ctor_pattern, desugar.

Central /// public-item rustdoc:
  ast.rs (full sweep — every "Iter X" + "Decision N" prefix
  reformulated; mode/Type::Fn rustdoc now points at memory-model.md;
  Constraint / SuperclassRef / InstanceDef / ClassDef rustdoc points
  at typeclasses contract).
  diagnostic.rs (all "(Iter X)" / "(mq.X)" tags on diagnostic codes
  removed).
  lib.rs (FORM_A_SPEC rustdoc points at authoring-surface.md
  instead of "Decision 6").
  canonical.rs (type_hash + Float-literal rustdoc).

Still outstanding (for a follow-up commit): ~500 inline `//`
code-body comments with `Iter X.Y` markers across the workspace, and
a handful of `///` rustdoc items in hash_pin / workspace_pin / lift /
mono / suppress_filter test-pin and internal-function bodies. Code
identifiers (test filenames like `mq3_multi_class_e2e.rs`, function
names like `iter18e_drop_iterative_default_preserves_hashes`) stay
verbatim per the user's "code identifiers stay verbatim" rule.

Tests: design_index_pin 5/5 + docs_honesty_pin 5/5; workspace builds
clean; full `cargo test --workspace` previously green (every
`test result: ok` line, no FAILED line).
2026-05-20 09:47:33 +02:00

63 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown

# Tail calls
## Explicit, verified tail calls
For an LLM author, recursion is the natural iteration form
(`\n. if n == 0 then () else loop(n-1)` is what I reach for, not
a `for`-loop). Without a tail-call guarantee, every recursive
program has a silent stack-depth ceiling that no compile-time
diagnostic warns about. That is exactly the class of correctness
hazard the language exists to eliminate.
Solution: explicit, verified tail calls.
- **AST.** `Term::App { fn, args, tail: bool }` and
`Term::Do { op, args, tail: bool }` (see
[Data model](data-model.md)) gain a `tail` flag,
serde-defaulting to `false` so existing fixtures load with
`tail: false` and their hashes stay bit-identical.
- **Typecheck.** A new pass `verify_tail_positions(fn_body)`
runs after the main type-check. It walks the body with an
`is_tail_context: bool` threaded down. The flag is `true` at
the start, `true` for the body of every `Term::Match` arm,
`true` for the right operand of `Term::Seq`, `true` for the
body of `Term::Let`, `true` for the body of `Term::Lam` (each
Lam opens its own tail scope). The flag is `false` for: args
of any `App`/`Do`/`Ctor`, scrutinee of `Match`, left of
`Seq`, condition of `Let`-bound expression. When the walker
visits an `App { tail: true }` or `Do { tail: true }`, the
flag must be `true` at that visit; otherwise emit diagnostic
`tail-call-not-in-tail-position`.
- **Codegen.** Emit `musttail call` (LLVM IR) for marked calls
instead of plain `call`. LLVM rejects at IR-verification
time if the call cannot physically be a tail call (calling
convention mismatch, signature divergence, etc.). The reject
surfaces as a hard build error, not a silent runtime
surprise.
- **Form (A).** Two new keywords: `tail-app`, `tail-do`.
Productions are positional analogues of `app`/`do` with
`tail: true` set on the resulting term. EBNF gains 2 lines;
total production count goes from ~28 to ~30, still inside
the constraint-1 budget (see
[authoring surface](authoring-surface.md)).
**What this does NOT promise.** Per the tail-call survey of existing fixtures,
many existing recursive calls are *not* in tail position
because they are arguments to constructor calls (e.g.
`Cons (f h) (map f t)`). The current pipeline adds annotation + verification;
it does **not** add a CPS transform or accumulator-form
rewrite. Programs whose recursion is constructor-blocked
will continue to be stack-bounded by recursion depth. The
canonical authoring pattern in such cases is to write the
accumulator-form variant (`map_acc`, `fold_left`, etc.)
explicitly. The stdlib ships both forms where
relevant.
Migration of existing fixtures is partial: only
`print_list`-style terminal recursions get marked. The
constructor-blocked recursions in `map`, `sort`, `insert`
remain unmarked — they cannot benefit from `musttail`
without a source-level rewrite.
Ratified by: `crates/ailang-check/src/lib.rs`.