@implicit

You can add the @implicit decorator on any single-argument constructor to identify it as eligible for implicit conversion.

For example:

struct MyInt:
    var value: Int

    @implicit
    def __init__(out self, value: Int):
        self.value = value

    def __init__(out self, value: Float64):
        self.value = Int(value)

This implicit conversion constructor allows you to pass an Int to a function that takes a MyInt argument, or assign an Int to a variable of type MyInt. However, the constructor that takes a Float64 value is not an implicit conversion constructor, so it must be invoked explicitly:

def func(n: MyInt):
    print("MyInt value: ", n.value)

def main():
    func(Int(42))             # Implicit conversion from Int: OK
    func(MyInt(Float64(4.2))) # Explicit conversion from Float64: OK
    func(Float64(4.2))        # Error: can't convert Float64 to MyInt

Deprecation

Over time, you may decide that an implicit conversion is no longer appropriate for your code base. For example, it may hide complexity or cause ambiguous function overloads. In such cases, Mojo lets you mark a conversion as deprecated using its built-in deprecated argument on the @implicit decorator. Deprecation allows you to phase out the conversion gradually instead of causing abrupt behavior changes.

Supply a Boolean value to the deprecated argument:

struct MyStruct:
    @implicit(deprecated=True)
    def __init__(out self, value: Int):
        # ...

This tells the compiler to emit a warning when the conversion is used implicitly, without breaking existing code:

_: MyStruct = 1  # Warns on implicit conversion

_ = MyStruct(1)  # No warning. Conversion is explicit

Deprecation​

Deprecation