Getting function's AST at compile-time

[deadalnix]

On Sunday, 15 September 2013 at 22:59:37 UTC, Piotr Szturmaj 
wrote:
> I'm looking for something like __traits(getAST, fn). The AST 
> should represent only run-time (instantiated) code without any 
> compile-time features.
>
> How hard it would be to implement this in the frontend?
>
> It would enable analysis of code at compile-time (without the 
> need to modify the compiler).

That is something I'd like to see, but it has 2 difficult 
pitfalls :
  - Compile time feature aren't always well defined. What happen 
if the AST of the function you look for depends on the CTFE you 
are running ? Note that is can in very subtle manners.
  - It require to define the AST properly. And then, every change 
in the AST become a breaking change. That is really difficult, 
especially since we are reluctant to clean up some 
implementations quirks (some even consider them as feature).