static map as a type function

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

On 9/24/20 1:51 AM, H. S. Teoh wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 24, 2020 at 01:13:49AM -0400, Andrei Alexandrescu via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> [...]
>> Was looking at this example thinking, if only we had an object
>> available for each type. And then it struck me - we already do. It's
>> typeid. For each type T, typeid(T) yields an object (of type class
>> TypeInfo) that can be copied, compared etc.
> 
> +1.  I've mentioned this before in one of Stefan's threads.  Basically,
> to promote types to first-class citizen status, all we need to do is to
> treat typeid specially at compile-time.  At compile-time, typeid becomes
> something like a glorified alias to the type itself, such that it can be
> manipulated, passed around, interrogated, etc..  At runtime, typeid
> becomes the familiar RTTI object.

Indeed you did! 
https://forum.dlang.org/post/mailman.5271.1597852264.31109.digitalmars-d@puremagic.com

> [...]
>> * This could work with no change to the language definition. All
>> that's needed to get lift is make TypeInfo values usable during
>> compilation.
> 
> Or treat typeid specially at compile-time, as a compile-time object not
> necessarily tied to TypeInfo (but "collapses" into TypeInfo at runtime).

Looks like we have something here!