REPL should prefer REPL products

[som-snytt]

minimized code

$ dotr
Starting dotty REPL...
scala> class C { protected val c = 42 }
// defined class C

scala> val x = C()
1 |val x = C()
  |        ^^^
  |        missing argument for parameter i of constructor C: (i: Int): C

scala>                                                                                 
$ ll C.*
-rw-r--r--  1 andrew  staff  393 Nov 27 11:11 C.class
-rw-r--r--  1 andrew  staff  349 Nov 27 11:11 C.tasty

expectation

$ scala
Welcome to Scala 2.13.1 (OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM, Java 1.8.0_222).
Type in expressions for evaluation. Or try :help.

scala> new C
       ^
       error: not enough arguments for constructor C: (i: Int)C.
       Unspecified value parameter i.

scala> class C { protected val c = 42 }
defined class C

scala> new C
res1: C = C@b0fc838

[SethTisue]

This has bitten me as well, in a different (and perhaps likelier-to-occur) form, involving a directory instead of a .class file:

% mkdir foo
% dotr
Starting dotty REPL...
scala> def foo = 3
def foo: Int

scala> foo                                                                                                              
1 |foo
  |^^^
  |package foo is not a value

This is rather difficult to troubleshoot if you don't think to go look in the filesystem for an explanation!

[som-snytt]

The related issue drives one "nuts, nuts, nuts".

$ mkdir util
$ dotr
Starting dotty REPL...
scala> import util.Try                                                          
1 |import util.Try
  |            ^^^
  |            value Try is not a member of util

Same for scalac and dotc, but again it's probably more likely that you have a stale or stray directory in the place you try out snippets in the REPL. In this case, a directory that contains nothing tasty and no class files should not introduce an eponymous package symbol.

Arguably, a package cannot be empty. The spec says, "packages are not introduced by a definition" but by that charmingly awkward phrase, "packagings." What a prescient formulation. A package exists only by virtue of packaging something.

It would also be nice if the all-knowing REPL explained all shadowings. Maybe not even a command called explain, but a mode in which it warns me when using a shadowing binding, and also overloads.

scala> util.Helper()
val res0: Helper = Helper@6048e26a   // util shadows scala.util

scala> 42 + .1
val res1 = 42.1   // I, for one, welcome our new overload overlords!

[som-snytt]

The problem is that a REPL definition doesn't shadow a definition on the class path.

➜  ~ scala
Welcome to Scala 2.13.4 (OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM, Java 15.0.1).
Type in expressions for evaluation. Or try :help.

scala> object StringContext
object StringContext

scala> s"${42}"
       ^
       error: StringContext.type does not take parameters; signature for interpolation must be `StringContext.apply(String*)`

scala> 

Compare

➜  ~ scala
Starting scala3 REPL...
scala> object StringContext
// defined object StringContext

scala> s"${42}"
val res0: String = 42

scala> 

Edit: see below, StringContext is rooted in Scala 3. Was hi, now bye:

def test() = println {
  class StringContext(parts: String*) {
    def s(args: Any*) = "hi"
  }
  object StringContext {
    def apply(parts: String*) = new StringContext
  }
  s"bye"
}

[SethTisue]

number of days since I was bitten by this: 0

scala> val (x, y) = (42, "foo")
val x: Int = 42
val y: String = foo

scala> if (true) x else y
1 |if (true) x else y
  |          ^
  |          package x is not a value

but only because:

$ ls -ld x
drwxr-xr-x  10 tisue  staff   320B Mar  2 21:28 x/

@nicolasstucki I don't understand why this issue was closed, actually? the issue doesn't seem fixed to me, as seen above

[tpolecat]

Yeah I was just bitten by this exact thing in the exact same way. The Scala 2 behavior seems better to me.

[som-snytt]

The purpose of this bug is to move all those Fixed in Ammonite t-shirts.