Eager Operator Evaluation

Most operators are actually function calls, and those functions can be overridden, so whether they are optimized away depends on the situation:

• if the operands are not constant values, it is not optimized;

• if the operator is overloaded, it is not optimized because the overloading function may not be pure (i.e. may cause side-effects when called);

• if the operator is not built-in (see list of built-in operators), it is not optimized;

• if the operator is a built-in operator for a standard type, it is called and replaced by a constant result.

// The following is most likely generated by machine.

const DECISION = 1;             // this is an integer, one of the standard types

if DECISION == 1 {              // this is optimized into 'true'
    :
} else if DECISION == 2 {       // this is optimized into 'false'
    :
} else if DECISION == 3 {       // this is optimized into 'false'
    :
} else {
    :
}

// Or an equivalent using 'switch':

switch DECISION {
    1 => ...,                   // this statement is promoted
    2 => ...,                   // this statement is eliminated
    3 => ...,                   // this statement is eliminated
    _ => ...                    // this statement is eliminated
}

Pre-Evaluation of Constant Expressions

Because of the eager evaluation of operators for standard types, many constant expressions will be evaluated and replaced by the result.

let x = (1+2) * 3 - 4/5 % 6;    // will be replaced by 'let x = 9'

let y = (1 > 2) || (3 <= 4);    // will be replaced by 'let y = true'

For operators that are not optimized away due to one of the above reasons, the function calls are simply left behind.

// Assume 'new_state' returns some custom type that is NOT one of the standard types.
// Also assume that the '==' operator is defined for that custom type.
const DECISION_1 = new_state(1);
const DECISION_2 = new_state(2);
const DECISION_3 = new_state(3);

if DECISION == 1 {              // NOT optimized away because the operator is not built-in
    :                           // and may cause side-effects if called!
    :
} else if DECISION == 2 {       // same here, NOT optimized away
    :
} else if DECISION == 3 {       // same here, NOT optimized away
    :
} else {
    :
}

Alternatively, turn the optimizer to OptimizationLevel::Full.