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2017 LLVM Developers’ Meeting: “Implementing Swift Generics ”

LLVM · talk · Watch on YouTube

Compilers, interpreters & program analysisProgramming language design

What it is

Swift compiler engineers explain how Swift implements generics using dictionary-passing with reified type metadata. They compare it with Java-style uniform representation and C++ or Rust monomorphization.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Recommended as the clearest explanation of how Swift generics compile and how that differs from other languages.

  • 2 people recommended it
  • 2 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2017, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “there's a very nice talk on how Swift's generics compile.”

    How Swift generics compile, differing from Rust

    Veedrac, 2017-12 · Recommendation · in “Type Erasure in Swift”

  2. “you might be interested in this[0] conference talk”

    Background on Swift generics, ABI stability and library evolution

    favorited, 2022-10 · Recommendation · in “Compiling Swift Generics [pdf]”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: swift, generics, llvm, compilers, type metadata, abi

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