Currently, Python-defined operations automatically generate an
`__init__` function to serve as the operation builder. Previously, the
parameters of this `__init__` function followed a fairly complex set of
rules. For example:
* All result fields were moved to the front to align with other op
builders.
* Fields of `Optional` type were automatically moved to the end and
treated as keyword parameters.
* If the types of all result fields could be inferred automatically,
then all result fields were removed from the parameter list.
* Other than that, the parameter order followed the field definition
order.
These rules may seem reasonable, and they have worked well in practice,
but they have one major drawback: users cannot easily tell what the
actual `__init__` parameter list will look like when writing code,
because the rules are simply too complicated. Users can inspect the
signature at runtime via `MyOp.__init__.__signature__`, but this is
clearly poor for the development experience.
After some offline discussion with Rolf, we decided to replace this with
the following rules, which is what this PR implements:
* The parameters of `__init__` now strictly follow the field definition
order.
* By default, all parameters are required. A field becomes a keyword
parameter only if it is declared with `= None`.
* By default, no type inference is performed. A field becomes a keyword
parameter and participates in type inference only if it is declared with
`= infer_type()`.
These new rules give users full control over the `__init__` parameter
list, making it easy to understand the parameter order and explicitly
control optional parameters and type inference. In addition, this makes
it much easier in the future to use `dataclass_transform` so that type
checkers can understand these automatically generated `__init__`
methods, although there are still some issues to resolve at the moment.
NOTE that this is a **breaking change**. Even so, I still believe it is
worth making, mainly for two reasons:
- the current number of users of Python-defined dialects is still quite
limited;
- this change will bring long-term benefits.
Assisted by Copilot.
d818fa4c55