The End of Compiler Hell? A Revolutionary Proposal for Automatic Code Migrations

2025-03-30
The End of Compiler Hell? A Revolutionary Proposal for Automatic Code Migrations

A major problem with modern compilers is their lack of a concept of time. Updating dependencies only updates the code downloaded to your hard drive without modifying call sites. This article proposes a revolutionary solution: automatic code migrations. Similar to database migrations, the compiler could automatically transform old code to adapt to new function types or module changes, preventing breakage from dependency updates. Two approaches are suggested: declaring migration macros directly on types and using migration files. This not only solves the problem of changing function types but also handles adding functions and trait instances, effectively preventing unnecessary code breakage and bringing new possibilities to modern software development.

Read more
Development compilers