Note [The ZonkEnv]

GHC/Tc/Zonk/Env.hs:83 compiler

* ze_flexi :: ZonkFlexi says what to do with a
  unification variable that is still un-unified.
  See Note [Un-unified unification variables]

* ze_tv_env :: TyCoVarEnv TyCoVar promotes sharing. At a binding site
  of a tyvar or covar, we zonk the kind right away and add a mapping
  to the env. This prevents re-zonking the kind at every
  occurrence. But this is *just* an optimisation.

* ze_id_env : IdEnv Id promotes sharing among Ids, by making all
  occurrences of the Id point to a single zonked copy, built at the
  binding site.

  Unlike ze_tv_env, it is knot-tied: see extendIdZonkEnvRec.
  In a mutually recursive group
     rec { f = ...g...; g = ...f... }
  we want the occurrence of g to point to the one zonked Id for g,
  and the same for f.

  Because it is knot-tied, we must be careful to consult it lazily.

* ze_meta_tv_env: see Note [Sharing when zonking to Type]


Notes:
  * We must be careful never to put coercion variables (which are Ids,
    after all) in the knot-tied ze_id_env, because coercions can
    appear in types, and we sometimes inspect a zonked type in
    the GHC.Tc.Zonk.Type module.  [Question: where, precisely?]

  * An obvious suggestion would be to have one VarEnv Var to
    replace both ze_id_env and ze_tv_env, but that doesn't work
    because of the knot-tying stuff mentioned above.

References 2

Referenced by 4