introduce Universe struct

Author: nikomatsakis

src/librustc/ty/mod.rs

@@ -1306,6 +1306,68 @@ impl<'tcx> InstantiatedPredicates<'tcx> {
     }
 }
 
+/// "Universes" are used during type- and trait-checking in the
+/// presence of `for<..>` binders to control what sets of names are
+/// visible. Universes are arranged into a tree: the root universe
+/// contains names that are always visible. But when you enter into
+/// some subuniverse, then it may add names that are only visible
+/// within that subtree (but it can still name the names of its
+/// ancestor universes).
+///
+/// To make this more concrete, consider this program:
+///
+/// ```
+/// struct Foo { }
+/// fn bar<T>(x: T) {
+///   let y: for<'a> fn(&'a u8, Foo) = ...;
+/// }
+/// ```
+///
+/// The struct name `Foo` is in the root universe U0. But the type
+/// parameter `T`, introduced on `bar`, is in a subuniverse U1 --
+/// i.e., within `bar`, we can name both `T` and `Foo`, but outside of
+/// `bar`, we cannot name `T`. Then, within the type of `y`, the
+/// region `'a` is in a subuniverse U2 of U1, because we can name it
+/// inside the fn type but not outside.
+///
+/// Universes are related to **skolemization** -- which is a way of
+/// doing type- and trait-checking around these "forall" binders (also
+/// called **universal quantification**). The idea is that when, in
+/// the body of `bar`, we refer to `T` as a type, we aren't referring
+/// to any type in particular, but rather a kind of "fresh" type that
+/// is distinct from all other types we have actually declared. This
+/// is called a **skolemized** type, and we use universes to talk
+/// about this. In other words, a type name in universe 0 always
+/// corresponds to some "ground" type that the user declared, but a
+/// type name in a non-zero universe is a skolemized type -- an
+/// idealized representative of "types in general" that we use for
+/// checking generic functions.
+#[derive(Copy, Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq, PartialOrd, Ord, Hash)]
+pub struct UniverseIndex(u32);
+
+impl UniverseIndex {
+    /// The root universe, where things that the user defined are
+    /// visible.
+    pub fn root() -> UniverseIndex {
+        UniverseIndex(0)
+    }
+
+    /// A "subuniverse" corresponds to being inside a `forall` quantifier.
+    /// So, for example, suppose we have this type in universe `U`:
+    ///
+    /// ```
+    /// for<'a> fn(&'a u32)
+    /// ```
+    ///
+    /// Once we "enter" into this `for<'a>` quantifier, we are in a
+    /// subuniverse of `U` -- in this new universe, we can name the
+    /// region `'a`, but that region was not nameable from `U` because
+    /// it was not in scope there.
+    pub fn subuniverse(self) -> UniverseIndex {
+        UniverseIndex(self.0 + 1)
+    }
+}
+
 /// When type checking, we use the `ParamEnv` to track
 /// details about the set of where-clauses that are in scope at this
 /// particular point.