go_spec: don't allow parens around the literal type of composite literals

Background: The current spec is imprecise with respect to the parsing ambiguity
for composite literals: It says that the ambiguity arises when the TypeName form
of the LiteralType is used. The following code:

    if (B) {} ...

is not using the TypeName form (but the parenthesized TypeName form) and thus
could be interpreted as:

    if ((B){}) ...

instead of

    if B {} ...

Both compilers and gofmt choose the latter interpretation. One could fix the
spec by making the clause regarding the parsing ambiguity more precise ("...using
the _possibly parenthesized_ TypeName form of the LiteralType..."). The alternative
(chosen here) is to simply disallow parenthesized literal types. Except for a single
test case (test/parentype.go) there appears to be no Go code under $GOROOT containing
parenthesized literal types. Furthermore, parentheses are never needed around a
literal type for correct parsing.

R=golang-dev
CC=golang-dev
https://golang.org/cl/1913041

2 files changed, 6 insertions, 7 deletions

diff --git a/doc/go_spec.html b/doc/go_spec.html
index 84ed9f4804..3d4123c438 100644
--- a/doc/go_spec.html
+++ b/doc/go_spec.html
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <!-- title The Go Programming Language Specification -->
-<!-- subtitle Version of July 14, 2010 -->
+<!-- subtitle Version of July 29, 2010 -->
 
 <!--
 TODO
@@ -1974,7 +1974,7 @@ a single expression or a key-value pair.
 <pre class="ebnf">
 CompositeLit  = LiteralType "{" [ ElementList [ "," ] ] "}" .
 LiteralType   = StructType | ArrayType | "[" "..." "]" ElementType |
-                SliceType | MapType | TypeName | "(" LiteralType ")" .
+                SliceType | MapType | TypeName .
 ElementList   = Element { "," Element } .
 Element       = [ Key ":" ] Value .
 Key           = FieldName | ElementIndex .
@@ -2096,10 +2096,11 @@ and is a shortcut for a slice operation applied to an array literal:
 
 <p>
 A parsing ambiguity arises when a composite literal using the
-TypeName form of the LiteralType appears in the condition of an
+TypeName form of the LiteralType appears between the
+<a href="#Keywords">keyword</a> and the opening brace of the block of an
 "if", "for", or "switch" statement, because the braces surrounding
 the expressions in the literal are confused with those introducing
-a block of statements. To resolve the ambiguity in this rare case,
+the block of statements. To resolve the ambiguity in this rare case,
 the composite literal must appear within
 parentheses.
 </p>
diff --git a/test/parentype.go b/test/parentype.go
index d5729f820d..efab5a97de 100644
--- a/test/parentype.go
+++ b/test/parentype.go
@@ -11,9 +11,7 @@ func g() {}
 func main() {
 	f(map[string]string{"a":"b","c":"d"});
 	f([...]int{1,2,3});
-	f(([...]int){1,2,3});
-	f((map[string]string){"a":"b","c":"d"});
-	f((map[string]func()){"a":g,"c":g});
+	f(map[string]func(){"a":g,"c":g});
 	f(make(chan(<-chan int)));
 	f(make(chan<-(chan int)));
 }