Merge pull request #4919 from abeln/refined-type-comment

Improve documentation on refinement/recursive types

Author: Blaisorblade

compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/core/Types.scala

@@ -2309,9 +2309,9 @@ object Types {
   }
 
   /** A refined type parent { refinement }
-   *  @param refinedName  The name of the refinement declaration
-   *  @param infoFn: A function that produces the info of the refinement declaration,
-   *                 given the refined type itself.
+   *  @param parent      The type being refined
+   *  @param refinedName The name of the refinement declaration
+   *  @param refinedInfo The info of the refinement declaration
    */
   abstract case class RefinedType(parent: Type, refinedName: Name, refinedInfo: Type) extends RefinedOrRecType {
 
@@ -2370,6 +2370,31 @@ object Types {
     }
   }
 
+  /** A recursive type. Instances should be constructed via the companion object.
+   *
+   *  @param parentExp A function that, given a recursive type R, produces a type
+   *                   that can refer to R via a `RecThis(R)` node. This is used to
+   *                   "tie the knot".
+   *
+   *  For example, in
+   *    class C { type T1; type T2 }
+   *    type C2 = C { type T1; type T2 = T1  }
+   *
+   *  The type of `C2` is a recursive type `{(x) => C{T1; T2 = x.T1}}`, written as
+   *
+   *    RecType(
+   *      RefinedType(
+   *        RefinedType(
+   *         TypeRef(...,class C),
+   *         T1,
+   *         TypeBounds(...)),
+   *        T2,
+   *        TypeBounds(
+   *          TypeRef(RecThis(...),T1),
+   *          TypeRef(RecThis(...),T1))))
+   *
+   *  Where `RecThis(...)` points back to the enclosing `RecType`.
+   */
   class RecType(parentExp: RecType => Type) extends RefinedOrRecType with BindingType {
 
     // See discussion in findMember#goRec why these vars are needed
@@ -2438,7 +2463,7 @@ object Types {
      *   1. Nested Rec types on the type's spine are merged with the outer one.
      *   2. Any refinement of the form `type T = z.T` on the spine of the type
      *      where `z` refers to the created rec-type is replaced by
-     *      `type T`. This avoids infinite recursons later when we
+     *      `type T`. This avoids infinite recursions later when we
      *      try to follow these references.
      *   TODO: Figure out how to guarantee absence of cycles
      *         of length > 1
@@ -2459,6 +2484,8 @@ object Types {
       }
       unique(rt.derivedRecType(normalize(rt.parent))).checkInst
     }
+
+    /** Create a `RecType`, but only if the type generated by `parentExp` is indeed recursive. */
     def closeOver(parentExp: RecType => Type)(implicit ctx: Context) = {
       val rt = this(parentExp)
       if (rt.isReferredToBy(rt.parent)) rt else rt.parent