Defining a type predicate breaks inheritance for methods with mapped types

🔎 Search Terms

type predicate mapped

🕗 Version & Regression Information

This is the behavior in every version I tried, and I reviewed the FAQ for entries about type system behavior

⏯ Playground Link

https://www.typescriptlang.org/play?ts=5.2.2#code/IYIwzgLgTsDGEAJYBthjAgglEBLawUAngDwAqAfAgN4BQCCokM8SwAdgMoAWUu7AawDq+bgHsArhADCY9hACmADwgAKAG7BkEhQC4EEwezEB3dgEp9m7QoS4MZANy16jcAVZKiAL2+kAqhjKiuwAJhiGAsZmANoAuhSqrgxK+tQIMQDSduwIAgpEYgBmCIFx+oFZcQgAvgA0rpZYOPgwxCSBFM41LkweiChoGACyRNh4BO2UCMEKYRjjrYSk03QMfSyIXr4BQSpz4QZGpuzxickIqTQZ2fx5BcWlYOVPVbUNDE2Lk7tdtD1AA

💻 Code

abstract class Arbitrary<T> {
  abstract canShrinkWithoutContext(value: unknown): value is T;

  abstract xyzzy<Us extends unknown[]>(
    x: { [K in keyof Us]: Us[K] },
  ): Arbitrary<Us>;
}

abstract class MyArbitrary<T> extends Arbitrary<T> {
  abstract xyzzy<Us extends unknown[]>(
    x: { [K in keyof Us]: Us[K] },
  ): Arbitrary<Us>;
}

🙁 Actual behavior

The compiler reports an error in MyArbitrary unless canShrinkWithoutContext is removed or its return type is changed.

🙂 Expected behavior

The xyzzy method should be overridden in the derived class.

Additional information about the issue

No response

It's not the type predicate but rather the reference to T. The same happens with abstract test(): T and similar.

Note that your xyzzy method returns Arbitrary<Us> and that becomes T within Arbitrary. I think that, in a way, you are asking for this to be allowed:

const item: Arbitrary<string> = {} as MyArbitrary<number>

We can see a somewhat better error here as it at least refers to the method that references T but the origin of the problem is truly in the return type of xyzzy

This seems like a bug:

// No constraint: OK
{
  interface Arbitrary<T> {
    cov: T;
    xyzzy<U>(x: { [K in keyof U]: U[K] }): Arbitrary<U>;
  }

  class MyArbitrary<T> implements Arbitrary<T> {
    cov!: T;
    xyzzy<U>(x: { [K in keyof U]: U[K] }): Arbitrary<U> {
      return null as any;
    }
  }
}

// Use a type alias: OK
{
  type SomeMap<U> = { [K in keyof U]: U[K] };
  interface Arbitrary<T> {
    cov: T;

    xyzzy<U extends unknown[]>(x: SomeMap<U>): Arbitrary<U>;
  }

  class MyArbitrary<T> implements Arbitrary<T> {
    cov!: T;
    xyzzy<U extends unknown[]>(x: SomeMap<U>): Arbitrary<U> {
      return null as any;
    }
  }
}

// Neither: Error
{
  interface Arbitrary<T> {
    cov: T;
    xyzzy<U extends unknown[]>(x: { [K in keyof U]: U[K] }): Arbitrary<U>;
  }

  class MyArbitrary<T> implements Arbitrary<T> {
    cov!: T;
    xyzzy<U extends unknown[]>(x: { [K in keyof U]: U[K] }): Arbitrary<U> {
      return null as any;
    }
  }
}

BTW, I noticed last night the weirdness that is { [K in keyof U]: U[K] } being a different type from just U, but it definitely is because it extends object even when U itself doesn't. Not sure if it's related but it sure seems fishy. I found that pattern in fast-check, which seems like a fairly high-profile library. It's in the defintion of a user-facing function in record.ts:

function record<T>(recordModel: { [K in keyof T]: Arbitrary<T[K]> }):
    Arbitrary<RecordValue<{ [K in keyof T]: T[K] }>>;

I think the variable T really should require an extends object constraint, since I don't see how a call to that function could possibly type check otherwise. My guess is that using a trivial mapped type is a workaround someone discovered to avoid introducing that constraint for whatever reason.

My guess is that using a trivial mapped type is a workaround someone discovered to avoid introducing that constraint for whatever reason.

I don't know if this is the case here but

type ID<T> = { [K in keyof T]: T[K] };

is a common pattern people sometimes write to get TS to fully expand object types in hover tips. AFAIR it's just a no-op on primitive types so it's nice to be able to use it in situations where an object constraint would be inconvenient.

I'm looking into this, so far I think the discrepancy in #56133 (comment) is due to inference, which we perform when we compare two signatures that have type parameters (in this case the signatures for xyzzy).

Ok, as I mentioned above, the reason why the code errors is, I think, because of inference.

What happens when type checking the code is roughly the following:

We check that MyArbitrary<T> is assignable to Arbitrary<T>, because MyArbitrary<T> extends Arbitrary<T>.
- When doing that, we check if the type of property xyzzy of MyArbitrary<T> is assignable to the type of the same property in Arbitrary<T> .
  - To check if the types of property xyzzy are assignable, we check if source signature <Us extends unknown[]>(x: { [K in keyof Us]: Us[K] }): Arbitrary<Us> (from MyArbitrary<T>) is assignable to target signature <Us extends unknown[]>(x: { [K in keyof Us]: Us[K] }): Arbitrary<Us> (from Arbitrary<T>).
    - Because the source signature has type parameters that are different from the target signature's type parameters, when checking that the source is assignable to the target, we instantiate the source signature in the context of the canonical form of the target signature (i.e. we call instantiateSignatureInContextOf), where the canonical form of the target signature is (x: { [K in keyof Us]: Us[K] }): Arbitrary<Us>.
      - During instantiateSignatureInContextOf, we have source signature <Us extends unknown[]>(x: { [K in keyof Us]: Us[K] }): Arbitrary<Us>, target signature (x: { [K in keyof Us]: Us[K] }): Arbitrary<Us>. This is where type inference kicks in: what instantiateSignatureInContextOf does is essentially to infer type arguments for the source signature's type parameters, and then instantiate the source signature with those inferred type arguments. It infers the source's type arguments by inferring (i.e. call inferTypes) between the source's parameter types and the target's parameter types, and inferring types between the source's return type and the target's return type. This is the part that causes the problem: we infer type argument unknown[] for source's type parameter U, and then we instantiate the source signature with this inference, obtaining a new source signature (x: unknown[]): Arbitrary<unknown[]>.
    - We then check if (x: unknown[]): Arbitrary<unknown[]> is assignable to (x: { [K in keyof Us]: Us[K] }): Arbitrary<Us>, and find that it is not assignable, because the source's return type Arbitrary<unknown[]> is not assignable to the target's return type Arbitrary<Us>, because Arbitrary<T> is covariant on T. This is why the error goes away if we remove abstract canShrinkWithoutContext(value: unknown): value is T inside Arbitrary: Arbitrary becomes independent of T, and then we find that Arbitrary<unknown[]> is assignable to Arbitrary<Us>.

All the variants in this comment that make the error go away do so by changing how we infer the type arguments for the source signature during instantiateSignatureInContextOf, making it so that we infer type argument Us (from the target signature) for type parameter Us in the source signature. We end up checking if (x: { [K in keyof Us]: Us[K] }): Arbitrary<Us> is assignable to (x: { [K in keyof Us]: Us[K] }): Arbitrary<Us> (where both Us are the same type parameter), which is true, so everything works.

Let's try to use a cleaner example for all discussions here:

declare class Base<T> {
    someProp: T;

    method<U extends unknown[]>(x: { [K in keyof U]: U[K] }): Base<U>;
}

declare class Derived<T> extends Base<T> {
    method<U extends unknown[]>(x: { [K in keyof U]: U[K] }): Base<U>;
}

Let's use unique type parameter names when discussing issues related to unification:

declare class Base<T> {
    someProp: T;
    method<U extends unknown[]>(x: { [K in keyof U]: U[K] }): Base<U>;
}

declare class Derived<S> extends Base<S> {
    method<V extends unknown[]>(x: { [K in keyof V]: V[K] }): Base<V>;
}

Makes it clearer that U and V need to be unified before we can relate the two signatures.

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Defining a type predicate breaks inheritance for methods with mapped types #56133

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Defining a type predicate breaks inheritance for methods with mapped types #56133

Description

🔎 Search Terms

🕗 Version & Regression Information

⏯ Playground Link

💻 Code

🙁 Actual behavior

🙂 Expected behavior

Additional information about the issue

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Andarist commented on Oct 17, 2023

RyanCavanaugh commented on Oct 17, 2023

johnw42 commented on Oct 17, 2023

fatcerberus commented on Oct 17, 2023

gabritto commented on Oct 25, 2023

gabritto commented on Nov 11, 2023

DanielRosenwasser commented on Nov 17, 2023

ahejlsberg commented on Dec 8, 2023

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