Since this is possible. I am now 100% convinced JSON.parse could statically type values. And with the power of macros, remove the need to use method invocation calls everywhere (to_i, as_s, etc).
If you can do it with CSV data, there is no reason it cannot be done with JSON data.
In @bcardiff’s first example, there is literally just alias TypedRow = {name: String, min_value: Int32, max_value: Int32, mod_type: String} used. And boom, no need for method invocations. Same should be possible for JSON.parse.
And especially for recursive data so you don’t need to maintain a mapping of the structure. Obviously, crystal is statically typed, so it’s not a bad thing, but we’re talking about the context of JSON.parse, and this makes that process so easy already, it should be even better (remove need for method invocation calls). This will allow JSON.parse take advantage of statically typed values.