Implements proposal #7016: `self` moves from the deduced implicit list
(`fn F[self: Self]()`) to the front of the explicit list. Its type may
be written explicitly (`fn F(self: Self)`) or omitted, in which case it
defaults to `Self` (`fn F(self)`, `fn F(ref self)`); `self` in the
implicit list is rejected.
Throughout checking, `self` is modeled as the first explicit parameter.
Because a method is just a function whose first parameter is `self`, it
can also be called as an ordinary function with the receiver passed
explicitly (`Type.M(obj, ...)`), not only as `obj.M(...)`. A new
`SemIR::CallArgParamPatterns` helper chooses the parameters matched
against the explicit arguments, excluding a leading `self` only when it
is supplied as a method-call receiver; arity checking, conversion, and
generic deduction use it. The resulting SemIR and lowering are
unchanged: `self` is still `call_param0`, and witnesses, thunks, and
vtables are unaffected.
An omitted `self` type is parsed as a `SelfBindingPattern` node with no
type expression; checking synthesizes the `Self` type so it behaves
exactly like `self: Self`. However, the exact spelling used must match
between a forward declaration and a definition, following #3763's rules
around declaration matching.
Generated functions, thunks, and C++ interop import/export build `self`
as the first explicit parameter, and the `self`-type override (e.g.
Derived->Base for a virtual override) applies to the explicit `self`.
Placement is validated by new diagnostics: `SelfInImplicitParamList`,
`SelfNotFirstParam`, and `SelfOutsideParamList`. The benchmark source
generator and the documentation adopt the `(self)` shorthand; the
prelude, the examples, and the test data are migrated in the following
commits.
Assisted-by: Claude Code with Claude Opus 4.7
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Co-authored-by: josh11b <15258583+josh11b@users.noreply.github.com>
This drops file_test runtime from about 3s to 2.5s on my machine, which
is now ~30% faster than before #5653 slowed things down by adding a lot
of stuff to the production prelude.
---------
Co-authored-by: Jon Ross-Perkins <jperkins@google.com>
People seemed receptive [on
#toolchain](https://discord.com/channels/655572317891461132/655578254970716160/1379196447827689553),
so proceeding.
For the two name conflicts, I've set it up so that there's a
"foo.carbon" and "foo_with_prelude.carbon", to indicate that the
no-prelude approach is preferred (with a shorter name).
Note min_prelude will require a little more work/thought, I want to
avoid adding `--custom-core` etc.