The problem is that (especially library) code just becomes absolutely littered with constexpr, because realistically speaking, you do want everything that can be constexpr to actually be constexpr.
Because whether a call should be CTE'd is a decision for the caller to make, not the callee.
> I actually really like seeing if a library function can be cte'd.
That's not what you're seeing with constexpr. It's what you're seeing with consteval. [1]
What you're seeing with constexpr is which functions are prohibited from being CTE'd. Which is pretty useless when you don't intend to CTE them in the first place, and actively counterproductive when you do.
[1] Actually this is kind of a lie too [2], but at least it's much closer to the truth.
[2] Notice that seeing consteval here tells you absolutely nothing: https://gcc.godbolt.org/z/bWzd4v6Y1
See this code:
>> [1] Actually this is kind of a lie too [2], but at least it's much closer to the truth.
>> [2] Notice that seeing consteval here tells you absolutely nothing: https://gcc.godbolt.org/z/bWzd4v6Y1
Note I didn't claim this was their only difference.
The problem was explained here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28895123
The language could just say everything that could be constexpr is implicitly constexpr, and you'd get just as useful of an effect (even on existing code!) without anyone having to do anything extra. It's very rare for a function that could be constexpr to be justifiably prohibited from being used as such, and they could've introduced an opt-out attribute for that if they really cared.
constexpr is an interface guarantee. If it were not there the entire optimization stack would become brittle. Imagine updating a dependency or rewriting a function and suddenly your program is 10x slower. Things like this are known in other languages. For example Haskell and fusion optimization. It's fine for you to disagree with this reasoning. But then you should not be using C++ as you don't really care for performance and can use many other better suited languages.
Then you say constexpr doesn't make it possible for the caller to specify whether something is cte'd while this is precisely what the caller decides. You are confusing constexpr and consteval. consteval doesn't make it possible for the caller to decide whether the function is cte'd.
Please answer the points I have brought up instead of simply referring to something I have already refuted.
That can already happen and will still be possible after constexpr. And it was always preventable by forcing evaluation of the variable in a CTE context, like in std::integral_constant. And you're missing the fact that an implicit constexpr with an explicit opt-out needn't behave any differently from one with explicit opt-in. Same semantics, just fewer keystrokes.
> constexpr is an interface guarantee
> Please answer the points I have brought up instead of simply referring to something I have already refuted.
You didn't actually refute it (though you tried), and I already did address them:
>> [2] Notice that seeing consteval here tells you absolutely nothing: https://gcc.godbolt.org/z/bWzd4v6Y1
Replace consteval with constexpr and you'll see it told you absolutely nothing about bar()'s CTE'ability. Observe how the callee used constexpr and bar() failed to CTE despite being constexpr: https://gcc.godbolt.org/z/odqbT7x9j
> You are going in circles...
Because you went in circles. I've directly addressed every single one of your points but then you looped back to ask the same question as you did in the beginning. Same questions, same answers.
In that example marking bar as consteval does nothing. Because you are not ever calling bar... Calling bar shows that it's not possible because foo is not constexpr:
note: non-constexpr function 'foo<int>' cannot be used in a constant expression
consteval T bar(T x) { return foo(x); }
> Replace consteval with constexpr and you'll see it told you absolutely nothing about bar()'s CTE'ability. Observe how the callee used constexpr and bar() failed to CTE despite being constexpr: https://gcc.godbolt.org/z/odqbT7x9j
It doesn't compile because foo is not constexpr. Marking foo as constexpr makes it compile and foo and bar are evaluated at compile time. It produces this ASM:
main: # @main
pushq %rbp
movq %rsp, %rbp
movl $0, -4(%rbp)
movl $0, -8(%rbp)
xorl %eax, %eax
popq %rbp
retq
> It doesn't compile because foo is not constexpr.
Well obviously. That's not the question here. The question is, explain to me exactly what guarantee the declaring bar() as 'constexpr' achieved for anyone? It clearly didn't prevent its author from calling a non constexpr function, and it clearly didn't signal to its users that it is usable from a constexpr context either. The user had to go inspect each one of its callees manually to see if they could all be evaluated at compile time in reality, which is exactly what you just did with foo(). Which is pretty damn hard (as in, Turing-undecidably-hard) when things are templates and you have ADL on top of that. And which the presence of constexpr on bar() didn't help you one bit with.
The declaration of bar() told you exactly nothing by having constexpr in it. It made no difference whatsoever for itself, nor for main(). It just added clutter.
You can point out that it failed to compile, and that can be a benefit when compiling would've been detrimental. Just like you yourself literally just did when you said "The code doesn't compile [...]".
> it did in fact stop the author from calling a non-constexpr function from a constexpr function.
The constexpr in front of bar() is not what prevented compilation. You don't believe me? Just take it out and see. The code would've failed to compile the exact same way without constexpr in front of bar(). Try it before disagreeing with me.
You're saying putting constexpr in front of bar() has a benefit. I'm saying: tell me what it was. Making that constexpr be always in front of bar() implicitly would've resulted in exactly the same outcome in every situation where the code compiles and also where it fails to compile (like above). Nothing would've been any different. I don't get why this is so difficult but I'm not going to keep repeating myself. Everything I can possibly imagine explaining is in my comments up to this point so just re-read them, I have no other way I can phrase these. Everyone else has understood what I'm saying and I'm at a loss how else to explain it differently. I promise you it's not wrong, we're just failing to communicate.