Reflection System Implementation Plan

Core Design

Following the Dart mirrors API design while maintaining cross-platform compatibility.

Mirror System

abstract class MirrorSystem {
  Map<Uri, LibraryMirror> get libraries;
  LibraryMirror findLibrary(Symbol libraryName);
  IsolateMirror get isolate;
  TypeMirror get dynamicType;
  TypeMirror get voidType;
  TypeMirror get neverType;
}

Core Mirrors

abstract class Mirror {}

abstract class DeclarationMirror implements Mirror {
  Symbol get simpleName;
  Symbol get qualifiedName;
  DeclarationMirror? get owner;
  bool get isPrivate;
  bool get isTopLevel;
  List<InstanceMirror> get metadata;
}

abstract class ObjectMirror implements Mirror {
  InstanceMirror invoke(Symbol memberName, List positionalArgs, [Map<Symbol, dynamic> namedArgs]);
  InstanceMirror getField(Symbol fieldName);
  InstanceMirror setField(Symbol fieldName, Object? value);
}

Type System

abstract class TypeMirror implements DeclarationMirror {
  bool get hasReflectedType;
  Type get reflectedType;
  List<TypeVariableMirror> get typeVariables;
  List<TypeMirror> get typeArguments;
  bool get isOriginalDeclaration;
  TypeMirror get originalDeclaration;
  bool isSubtypeOf(TypeMirror other);
  bool isAssignableTo(TypeMirror other);
}

Implementation Phases

Phase 1: Core Mirror System

Basic Mirror interfaces
- Mirror base class
- DeclarationMirror
- ObjectMirror
- TypeMirror
Instance Reflection
- InstanceMirror implementation
- Method invocation
- Field access
- Constructor invocation
Type Reflection
- ClassMirror implementation
- Type information handling
- Member reflection
- Metadata support

Phase 2: Type System

Type Mirrors
- TypeMirror implementation
- TypeVariableMirror
- Generic type support
- Type relationships
Method Reflection
- MethodMirror implementation
- Parameter handling
- Return type resolution
- Invocation support
Field Reflection
- VariableMirror implementation
- Property access
- Field metadata
- Type checking

Phase 3: Advanced Features

Library Support
- LibraryMirror implementation
- Symbol resolution
- Privacy handling
- Library dependencies
Metadata System
- Annotation support
- Metadata reflection
- Declaration scanning
- Attribute handling

Phase 4: Platform Support

Web Platform
- Tree shaking support
- Minification handling
- Browser optimizations
- JS interop
Native Platforms
- AOT compilation support
- Native optimizations
- Memory management
- Performance tuning

Testing Strategy

Unit Tests

Core Functionality
- Mirror creation
- Type reflection
- Member access
- Method invocation
Type System
- Type relationships
- Generic handling
- Type variables
- Type metadata

Integration Tests

System Tests
- Full reflection scenarios
- Cross-platform behavior
- Edge cases
- Error handling
Performance Tests
- Memory usage
- Operation speed
- Resource management
- Platform behavior

Success Criteria

Functional

Complete mirrors API implementation
Cross-platform compatibility
Full type system support
Metadata handling

Technical

Matches Dart mirrors behavior
Efficient memory usage
Fast reflection operations
Platform optimizations

Timeline

Phase 1: 3 weeks
Phase 2: 3 weeks
Phase 3: 2 weeks
Phase 4: 2 weeks
Total: 10 weeks

This plan focuses on implementing the core Dart mirrors API while ensuring cross-platform compatibility and performance. By following the established mirrors API, we ensure our reflection system will be familiar to Dart developers and capable of supporting any use case that the original mirrors system supports.

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