compiler-387.md

August 1, 2026 · View on GitHub

Problem

The C# writer can emit a no-arg member either as a C# property or as a method, selected by --no-properties / --methods (one field, CSharpWriter.NoProperties). Only the method form ships. The property form is a second output shape nobody wants, nobody tests deliberately, and every writer site that spells a member has to branch on it.

Worse, the two shapes are not independent in the code. CSharpWriterExtensions.ToCSharp rejected --no-properties without --scalar=float, so NoProperties and ScalarErase were equivalent in practice and a dozen sites read NoProperties when what they actually meant was "the scalar wrapper types are erased to native primitives". Those sites emit the wrong C# the moment the two come apart — which is exactly what the forward shipping direction requires: the 2026-08-01 decision (decc091) keeps wrapper scalars and no erasure, so generated/Plato.Generated.Foundation.Unoptimized could not use --no-properties at all and was still emitting properties.

Done means

  • Every NoProperties test classified as property-vs-method spelling or as scalar erasure, and the erasure ones rewritten to test ScalarErase.
  • The --no-properties requires --scalar=float guard is gone and method-form emission over wrapper scalars generates and compiles.
  • --no-properties / --methods CLI flags, the noProperties / methodsOnly parameters on ToCSharp, and CSharpWriter.NoProperties deleted; every remaining site collapsed to its method-form branch.
  • --static-abstract's dependency guard on --no-properties deleted (the flag stays).
  • Tests that exist only to cover the property-ful variant removed.
  • generated/Plato.Generated.Foundation.Unoptimized regenerated, building clean, with its no-arg members emitted as methods; its .csproj header no longer claims it cannot use the method form.
  • ADR recorded at tracker/decisions/2026-08-01-property-free-emission-is-unconditional.md.

Out of scope

CSharpWriter.PrimitiveSurfaceOverrides and StructSurfacePropertyNames stay. They record where the HANDWRITTEN runtime (src/Plato.Intrinsics) still spells a member as a property, which is a fact about the runtime, not about this flag. Converting the runtime to method form is plato-331 and is what would empty that table.