• Feature Name: future_possibilities
  • Start Date: 2018-10-11
  • RFC PR: rust-lang/rfcs#2561
  • Rust Issue: N/A. The RFC is self-executing.

Summary

Adds a "Future possibilities" section

節
to the 0000-template.md RFC template that asks authors to elaborate on what natural extensions there might to their RFC and what future directions
方向
 this may take
とる
 the project into. This section
節
 asks authors to think holistically.

Motivation

The benefit for the author

Often times, when an RFC is written, the only thing an author considers

考える、みなす
may be the feature or change proposal itself but not the larger picture and context
文脈、背景
 in which the RFC operates in. By asking the author to reflect on future possibilities, a larger degree of introspection within the author themselves may ensue. The hope is then that they may consider
考える、みなす
 what larger effects their proposal may have and what subsequent
その後の
 proposals may be.

The author of this RFC has benefitted personally from writing future-possibilities sections

節
(#2532, #2529, #2524, #2523, #2522, #2401, #2421, #2385, and #2306). Said written sections
節
 have also caused the current author to think more clearly about interactions in each of the written RFCs. If for no other reason, these sections
節
 offer a permanent space to idea-dump while writing an RFC.

For the team

The holistic perspective that a future-possibilities section

節
can offer may also help the relevant sub-team to understand:

  1. why something is proposed,
  2. what the long term
    項、用語
     effects of said proposal is,
  3. how said proposals fit with the product vision and roadmap that the team currently has.

For readers in general
一般

More generally, the benefits for the teams described

記述する
above also hold
保有する、有効である
 for all readers. In particular, a reader can better infer what sort of language
言語
 Rust is turning into given
与えられた
 the information in a future-possibilities section.
節
 Having such a section
節
 may also help generate interest in subsequent
その後の
 proposals which a different author may then write.

Guide-level explanation

This Meta-RFC modifies the RFC template by adding

たす
a "Future possibilities" section
節
 after the "Unresolved questions". The newly introduced section
節
 is intended to help the authors, teams and readers in general
一般
 reflect holistically on the big picture effects that a specific
特定の
 RFC proposal has.

Please read the reference-level-explanation for exact details of what an RFC author will see in the changed template.

Reference-level explanation

The implementation

実装
of this RFC consists
構成される
 of inserting
挿入する
 the following
下記の、次に続く、追従する
 text to the RFC template after the section
節
 Unresolved questions:

Future possibilities

Think about what the natural extension and evolution of your proposal would be and how it would affect the language

言語
and project as a whole in a holistic way. Try to use this section
節
 as a tool to more fully
完全に
 consider
考える、みなす
 all possible interactions with the project and language
言語
 in your proposal. Also consider
考える、みなす
 how the this all fits into the roadmap for the project and of the relevant sub-team.

This is also a good place to "dump ideas", if they are out of scope for the RFC you are writing but otherwise

さもなければ
related.

If you have tried and cannot think of any future possibilities, you may simply state that you cannot think of anything.

Note that having something written down in the future-possibilities section

節
is not a reason to accept
受け付ける、受理する
 the current or a future RFC; such notes should be in the section
節
 on motivation or rationale in this or subsequent
その後の
 RFCs. The section
節
 merely provides
与える
 additional
追加の
 information.

Drawbacks

There are three main potential drawbacks:

The section
節
 will be unused

There's some risk that the section

節
will simply be left empty
空の
 and unused. However, in the recent RFCs written by the author as noted in the motivation, this has not been a problem. On the contrary, the very idea behind adding
たす
 this section
節
 has come as a result
結果、戻り値
 of the experience gained by writing such future-possibilities sections
節
 in the aforementioned RFCs.

However, some of the RFCs written by the this RFC's author have not had such sections.

節
Therefore, if an RFC leaves the newly introduced section
節
 empty,
空の
 it is not the end of the world. The section
節
 is intended as encouragement and recommendation; it is not mandatory as no section
節
 in an RFC has ever really been.

Higher barrier to entry
項目

As noted in RFC 2333, which was the last RFC to extend

拡張する
the template, the longer the template becomes, the more work there is to writing an RFC. This can raise the barrier to entry
項目
 somewhat. However, we argue that it is worth the minor raise in the bar since it is OK for RFCs to leave the section
節
 empty.
空の

Readers reacting negatively on the future possibilities

Another potential drawback is that readers of the RFC will focus too much on what is written in the future-possibilities section

節
and not the actual
実際の
 proposal that is made in the RFC. This has not been the case in the RFCs mentioned in the motivation.

Rationale and alternatives
代わりのもの、選択肢

  1. We could rephrase the section

    節
    in various
    さまざまな
     ways. It is possible to do such tweaking in the future.

  2. We could rename it to "possible future work" or "future work" where the latter is more customary, but we have opted to use a section

    節
    title that makes it more clear that the contents of the section
    節
     are not what is accepted
    受け付ける、受理する
     but only possibilities.

  3. We could move the section

    節
    up and down and around.

  4. We could simply not have such a section

    節
    and leave it up to each author. However, we argue here that it is beneficial to hint at the possibility of providing
    与える
     such a section.
    節
     It might otherwise
    さもなければ
     not occur
    起こる
     to the author that such a section
    節
     could be written.

Prior art

None of the languages

言語
enumerated in RFC 2333 have such a section
節
 proposed in this RFC. However, there are plenty of academic papers published which do contain
含む
 sections
節
 pertaining to future possibilities. It is customary for such sections
節
 to be at the end of papers so as to not bore readers and keep them reading.

Unresolved questions

None as of yet.

Future possibilities

It may be the case that we would overhaul the RFC template completely if we undertake larger changes to the RFC process itself as is proposed in the staged-RFCs idea. However, we'll likely want to determine

決定する
the answers and get the information that each section
節
 in the current template provides
与える
 at some point during the lifecycle of a proposal.