Currently, during symbol simplification we remove the original member symbol
from the equivalence class (ClassMembers trait). However, we keep the
reverse link (ClassMap trait), in order to be able the query the
related constraints even for the old member. This asymmetry can lead to
a problem when we merge equivalence classes:
ClassA: [a, b] // ClassMembers trait, a->a, b->a // ClassMap trait, a is the representative symbol
Now let,s delete a:
ClassA: [b] a->a, b->a
Let's merge ClassA into the trivial class c:
ClassA: [c, b] c->c, b->c, a->a
Now, after the merge operation, c and a are actually in different
equivalence classes, which is inconsistent.
One solution to this problem is to simply avoid removing the original
member and this is what this patch does.
Other options I have considered:
- Always merge the trivial class into the non-trivial class. This might work most of the time, however, will fail if we have to merge two non-trivial classes (in that case we no longer can track equivalences precisely).
- In removeMember, update the reverse link as well. This would cease the inconsistency, but we'd loose precision since we could not query the constraints for the removed member.
Emphasize what you mean by relaxation. You meant probably something like not replacing the complex symbol, just adding the simplified version to the class.