GorillaScript (ckknight.github.io)

Also nice is that it doesn't have to create a full defaults object at runtime, and each binding would only be evaluated if individually needed:

    let func-with-named-params({
      id as String // TypeError if not a String
      metadata // don't care about type, defaults to void
      seed as Number = get-random-seed() // requires a Number, only calls function if not provided.
    }) ->

Yeah, Refinements seem like a similar thing to extension classes in .NET where methods defined somewhere else affect a class but only if included, without polluting the globals.

The only possible way I could see supporting something like this is with a different method call operator, so something like:

NOTE: The following is theoretical code. It does not work in GorillaScript 0.9.x, but might be implemented if there is enough positive feedback for it.

    refinement String
      def repeat(count as Number)
        if count < 1
          ""
        else if count < 2
          this
        else if count bitand 0b1 // if it's odd
          this->repeat(count - 1) & this
        else
          (this & this)->repeat(count bitrshift 1)
    
    // and used as such:
    "Hello "->repeat(5) == "Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello "
    // would turn into this code:
    String_$_repeat("Hello ", 5)
    
    let unknown(x)
      // This would throw a compile-time error, as x's type
      // would be unknown. It would have to be a single
      // named type that has a refinement defined, either at
      // the top of the file or with an import.
      x->repeat(5)

    "Hello"->for-code-point point, index
      // This is a body in a macro defined as "for-code-point" on a String refinement.
      do-something(point)

You could also define a refinement on a union type or even an object type, such as the following:

    refinement Array|{ length: Number }
      // define a getter, why not?
      def get median()
        this[this.length \ 0]
      
      macro loop
        syntax item as Identifier, index as (",", index as Identifier)?, body as Body
          index ?= @tmp \i
          AST
            let mutable $index = 0
            while $index < @length, $index += 1 // it knows that `@length` is a Number, no need to type checking
              let $item = this[$index]
              $body

      def each(callback)
        // look, we're using the macro we just defined!
        this->loop value, index
          callback value, index

To clarify before, the following would work:

    refinement Number
      // automatically knows it returns a Number
      def log(base as Number = Math.E)
        Math.log(this) / Math.log(base)
    
    let alpha = 1e100->log(10) // knows that 1e100 is a Number, obviously, and since ->log returns a Number, alpha is automatically known to be a Number.
    let bravo = alpha->log(10) // knows alpha is a Number, etc.
    let charlie = Math.pow(2, 10)->log(2) // since we know Math.pow returns a Number, we're good.
    let delta as Number = some-library.some-unknown-method()
    let e...