The C# 14 compiler lowers implicit span conversions to calls -
MemoryExtensions.AsSpan(string), ReadOnlySpan<T>.CastUp, and the span
op_Implicit operators - so decompiled code showed the lowered form even
though the conversion and betterness layers already implement the C# 14
rules. CallBuilder now folds those helper calls back into conversions,
riding the existing mechanism: the conversion is built as an explicit
cast, consumption sites make it implicit where the context allows, and
the overload-resolution recheck re-adds a cast when the bare argument
would bind to a different overload (which canonicalizes deliberate
AsSpan disambiguations to the equivalent explicit span cast).
Span conversions compose, so CastCanBeMadeImplicit lets a direct
input-to-target span conversion replace a chained pair; and an rvalue
bound to an in parameter gets the same chance to shed the cast as a
by-value argument, since ChangeDirectionExpressionTo bypasses the
by-value strip.
Part of #829.
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-fable-5:Claude Code
Siegfried Pammer