fsharp
Generic attributes
Generic attributes
Champion "Allow Generic Attributes" is currently in the C# team's working set.
Since CIL already supported this for a decade, if F# were to implement it, we won't have to wait for C# to have this.
Pros and Cons
The advantages of making this adjustment to F# are
- Enforcing generic restrictions at compile time which
typeofcannot do - Type-safe attribute members without type-unsafe boxing conversions with reflection
- Generics is faster than reflection
The disadvantages of making this adjustment to F# are (none)
Extra information
Estimated cost (XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL): M to L
Related suggestions: (put links to related suggestions here)
Affidavit (please submit!)
Please tick this by placing a cross in the box:
- [x] This is not a question (e.g. like one you might ask on stackoverflow) and I have searched stackoverflow for discussions of this issue
- [x] I have searched both open and closed suggestions on this site and believe this is not a duplicate
- [x] This is not something which has obviously "already been decided" in previous versions of F#. If you're questioning a fundamental design decision that has obviously already been taken (e.g. "Make F# untyped") then please don't submit it.
Please tick all that apply:
- [x] This is not a breaking change to the F# language design
- [x] I or my company would be willing to help implement and/or test this
For Readers
If you would like to see this issue implemented, please click the :+1: emoji on this issue. These counts are used to generally order the suggestions by engagement.
Generic attributes are now in C# 11 preview.
I noticed it's possible to define them in F# (guessing the compiler doesn't know that inheriting Attribute makes it one):
type Foo<'t> () =
inherit Attribute ()
I was a little surprised to find the above can be referenced in C# 11.
