Cut the Gordian Knot: Don't widen unions to transparent

The idea is that some unions usually make more sense than others. For instance,
if `Apply` and `Ident` are case classes that extend `Tree`, it makes sense to
widen `Apply | Ident` to `Tree`. But it makes less sense to widen `String | Int`
to `Matchable`.

Making sense means: (1) Matches our intuitive understanding, and (2) choosing not to
widen would usually not cause errors.

To explain (2): In the `Tree` case it might well be that we define an implicits on `Inv[Tree]` for
invariant class `Inv`, and then we would not find the implicit for `Inv[Apply | Ident]`.
But it's much less likely that we are looking for an implicit of type `Inv[Any]`.

This commit does two things:

 - add logic not to widen a union if the result is a product of only transparent traits or classes.
 - treat `Any`, `AnyVal`, `Object`, and `Matchable` as transparent.

Author: odersky

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

@@ -550,6 +550,10 @@ trait ConstraintHandling {
         inst
   end approximation
 
+  private def isTransparent(tp: Type)(using Context): Boolean = tp match
+    case AndType(tp1, tp2) => isTransparent(tp1) && isTransparent(tp2)
+    case _ => tp.typeSymbol.isTransparentTrait && !tp.isLambdaSub
+
   /** If `tp` is an intersection such that some operands are transparent trait instances
    *  and others are not, replace as many transparent trait instances as possible with Any
    *  as long as the result is still a subtype of `bound`. But fall back to the
@@ -563,7 +567,7 @@ trait ConstraintHandling {
 
     def dropOneTransparentTrait(tp: Type): Type =
       val tpd = tp.dealias
-      if tpd.typeSymbol.isTransparentTrait && !tpd.isLambdaSub && !kept.contains(tpd) then
+      if isTransparent(tpd) && !kept.contains(tpd) then
         dropped = tpd :: dropped
         defn.AnyType
       else tpd match
@@ -648,7 +652,16 @@ trait ConstraintHandling {
 
     val wideInst =
       if isSingleton(bound) then inst
-      else dropTransparentTraits(widenIrreducible(widenOr(widenSingle(inst))), bound)
+      else
+        val widenedFromSingle = widenSingle(inst)
+        val widenedFromUnion = widenOr(widenedFromSingle)
+        val widened =
+          if (widenedFromUnion ne widenedFromSingle) && isTransparent(widenedFromUnion) then
+            widenedFromSingle
+          else
+            dropTransparentTraits(widenedFromUnion, bound)
+        widenIrreducible(widened)
+
     wideInst match
       case wideInst: TypeRef if wideInst.symbol.is(Module) =>
         TermRef(wideInst.prefix, wideInst.symbol.sourceModule)

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

@@ -1839,7 +1839,11 @@ class Definitions {
       requiredClass("scala.collection.generic.IsMap"),
       requiredClass("scala.collection.generic.IsSeq"),
       requiredClass("scala.collection.generic.Subtractable"),
-      requiredClass("scala.collection.immutable.StrictOptimizedSeqOps")
+      requiredClass("scala.collection.immutable.StrictOptimizedSeqOps"),
+      AnyClass,
+      AnyValClass,
+      ObjectClass,
+      MatchableClass
     )
 
   // ----- primitive value class machinery ------------------------------------------

tests/neg/harmonize.scala

@@ -79,9 +79,9 @@ object Test {
     val a4 = ArrayBuffer(1.0f, 1L)
     val b4: ArrayBuffer[Double] = a4 // error: no widening
     val a5 = ArrayBuffer(1.0f, 1L, f())
-    val b5: ArrayBuffer[AnyVal] = a5
+    val b5: ArrayBuffer[Float | Long | Int] = a5
     val a6 = ArrayBuffer(1.0f, 1234567890)
-    val b6: ArrayBuffer[AnyVal] = a6
+    val b6: ArrayBuffer[Float | Int] = a6
 
   def totalDuration(results: List[Long], cond: Boolean): Long =
     results.map(r => if (cond) r else 0).sum

tests/neg/supertraits.scala

@@ -6,19 +6,20 @@ class C extends A, S
 val x = if ??? then B() else C()
 val x1: S = x  // error
 
-case object a
-case object b
+class Top
+case object a extends Top
+case object b extends Top
 val y = if ??? then a else b
 val y1: Product = y      // error
 val y2: Serializable = y // error
 
-enum Color {
+enum Color extends Top {
   case Red, Green, Blue
 }
 
-enum Nucleobase {
+enum Nucleobase extends Top {
   case A, C, G, T
 }
 
 val z = if ??? then Color.Red else Nucleobase.G
-val z1: reflect.Enum = z // error: Found: (z : Object) Required: reflect.Enum
+val z1: reflect.Enum = z // error: Found: (z : Top) Required: reflect.Enum

tests/neg/union.scala

@@ -11,8 +11,9 @@ object Test {
 }
 
 object O {
-  class A
-  class B
+  class Top
+  class A extends Top
+  class B extends Top
   def f[T](x: T, y: T): T = x
 
   val x: A = f(new A { }, new A)

tests/neg-custom-args/allow-deep-subtypes/i15365.scala renamed to tests/pos-deep-subtype/i15365.scala

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+object Test:
+
+  def test =
+    val x = if ??? then "" else 1
+    val _: String | Int = x
+
+

tests/pos/unions.scala

@@ -26,11 +26,11 @@ object Test extends App {
   locally {
     def f(): Int = b + 1
     val x1 = ArrayBuffer(b, 33, 5.5)      ; x1: ArrayBuffer[Double] // b is an inline val
-    val x2 = ArrayBuffer(f(), 33, 5.5)    ; x2: ArrayBuffer[AnyVal] // f() is not a constant
+    val x2 = ArrayBuffer(f(), 33, 5.5)    ; x2: ArrayBuffer[Int | Double] // f() is not a constant
     val x3 = ArrayBuffer(5, 11L)          ; x3: ArrayBuffer[Long]
-    val x4 = ArrayBuffer(5, 11L, 5.5)     ; x4: ArrayBuffer[AnyVal] // Long and Double found
+    val x4 = ArrayBuffer(5, 11L, 5.5)     ; x4: ArrayBuffer[Int | Long | Double] // Long and Double found
     val x5 = ArrayBuffer(1.0f, 2)         ; x5: ArrayBuffer[Float]
-    val x6 = ArrayBuffer(1.0f, 1234567890); x6: ArrayBuffer[AnyVal] // loss of precision
+    val x6 = ArrayBuffer(1.0f, 1234567890); x6: ArrayBuffer[Float | Int] // loss of precision
     val x7 = ArrayBuffer(b, 33, 'a')      ; x7: ArrayBuffer[Char]
     val x8 = ArrayBuffer(5.toByte, 11)    ; x8: ArrayBuffer[Byte]