Although the dependent attributes address a very real problem, it’s still piling complexity upon complexity, and tries to circumvent the need for an actual language change by pushing it as an attribute. I can easily see this feature being adopted by some compilers to enhance diagnostics of core OS libraries BUT, the cost is that the code will look more opaque and hard to read.

Looking at the concrete examples, it’s about solving solving things like

1. The lack of slices
2. The missing ability to express ownership / threading semantics

BUT If the lack of slices is important enough to warrant the changes needed for dependent attributes – shouldn’t then slices be a full fledged feature? That would allow regular user code actually use such slices and leverage much more than just some security checks.

And if OWNERSHIP is important enough to warrant the changes needed for dependent attributes, shouldn’t then OWNERSHIP be a full fledged feature?

It will be slower to migrate to such full-fledged solutions, but isn’t it immensely more valuable?

TLDR; If dependent attributes are added, then it looks like the functionality will see limited use outside of libraries, but if this functionality is added to C, then it seems like they are even better as full-fledged features that ordinary users will use.

Best Regards,

Christoffer