# Bound vars and parameters

## Early-bound parameters

Early-bound parameters in rustc are identified by an index, stored in the
[`ParamTy`] struct for types or the [`EarlyBoundRegion`] struct for lifetimes.
The index counts from the outermost declaration in scope. This means that as you
add more binders inside, the index doesn't change.

For example,

```rust,ignore
trait Foo<T> {
  type Bar<U> = (Self, T, U);
}
```

Here, the type `(Self, T, U)` would be `($0, $1, $2)`, where `$N` means a
[`ParamTy`] with the index of `N`.

In rustc, the [`Generics`] structure carries this information. So the
[`Generics`] for `Bar` above would be just like for `U` and would indicate the
'parent' generics of `Foo`, which declares `Self` and `T`.  You can read more
in [this chapter](./generics.md).

[`ParamTy`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/ty/struct.ParamTy.html
[`EarlyBoundRegion`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/ty/struct.EarlyBoundRegion.html
[`Generics`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/ty/struct.Generics.html

## Late-bound parameters

Late-bound parameters in `rustc` are handled differently. We indicate their
presence by a [`Binder`] type. The [`Binder`] doesn't know how many variables
there are at that binding level. This can only be determined by walking the
type itself and collecting them. So a type like `for<'a, 'b> ('a, 'b)` would be
`for (^0.a, ^0.b)`. Here, we just write `for` because we don't know the names
of the things bound within.

Moreover, a reference to a late-bound lifetime is written `^0.a`:

- The `0` is the index; it identifies that this lifetime is bound in the
  innermost binder (the `for`).
- The `a` is the "name"; late-bound lifetimes in rustc are identified by a
  "name" -- the [`BoundRegionKind`] enum. This enum can contain a
  [`DefId`][defid] or it might have various "anonymous" numbered names. The
  latter arise from types like `fn(&u32, &u32)`, which are equivalent to
  something like `for<'a, 'b> fn(&'a u32, &'b u32)`, but the names of those
  lifetimes must be generated.

This setup of not knowing the full set of variables at a binding level has some
advantages and some disadvantages. The disadvantage is that you must walk the
type to find out what is bound at the given level and so forth. The advantage
is primarily that, when constructing types from Rust syntax, if we encounter
anonymous regions like in `fn(&u32)`, we just create a fresh index and don't have
to update the binder.

[`Binder`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/ty/struct.Binder.html
[`BoundRegionKind`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/ty/enum.BoundRegionKind.html
[defid]: ./hir.html#identifiers-in-the-hir