swiftlang/swift

"Instance member cannot be used on type" diagnostic message could be more specific

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#62,909 opened on Jan 8, 2023

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Description

Motivation

It took me far too long to understand why the compiler was giving me this error (I was quickly trying something a bit less trivial than this example involving async/await, and thought the issue was around the execution context):

@main public struct Scraper
{
    public static func main()
    {
        let data = fetch()     //  Instance member 'fetch' cannot be used on type 'Scraper'
                   ^~~~~
    }
    
    func fetch() -> Data
    {
        return Data()
    }
}

Solution

A more precise wording, something like "Instance method cannot be called from static context", would be much more helpful.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Identify where in the Swift compiler the current diagnostic message 'Instance member cannot be used on type' is generated, and propose a more specific wording like 'Instance method cannot be called from static context'.
Tech stack
swift
Domain
compilersdeveloper experience
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
1
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Under 1 hour
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
Swift
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
80