Const typed data (Int8List, et al.)

[a-siva]

e.g:

const Int8Array int8 = const [10, 100];

does not work, instead we need to write code as follows:
Int8Array initInt8Array() {
  var list = new Int8Array(2);
  list[0] = 10;
  list[1] = 100;
  return list;
}
Int8Array int8 = initInt8Array();

We should try and make it possible to initialize constant scalar lists
similar to how we initialize all lists.

[sethladd]

Siva,

Running in production mode, that code is:

const var int8 = const [10, 100];

Looks like you're asking for a new literal for scalar lists?

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Added Triaged label.

[lrhn]

It could be handled by a const constructor on Uint8List that takes a const List<int> as argument. It will require compiler magic to actually become a real Uint8List, and I don't see it happening any time soon.
I'd recommend just using
  new Int8List.from(const [10, 100]);
or just use:
  const [10, 100]
directly (it won't be a Int8List, but it will be a list, and the system could decide to have an efficient implementation of a constant list of small integers).

[lrhn]

Removed Type-Defect label.
Added Type-Enhancement, Library-TypedData labels.

[floitschG]

Set owner to @lrhn.

[lrhn]

Creating a const typed-data list is not a library issue - it needs language support.

For one thing, all type-data lists are currently mutable. Maybe if we had an immutable ByteBuffer, it would make more sense.

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Removed the owner.
Removed Area-Library, Library-TypedData labels.
Added Area-Language label.