DConf 2013 Day 2 Talk 6: Higgs, an experimental JIT compiler written in D by Maxime Chevalier-Boisvert

[Rob T]

On Saturday, 8 June 2013 at 22:55:20 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
> On 6/8/2013 2:23 PM, bearophile wrote:
>> - D integer types have guaranteed sizes, but
>>   they're not obvious from the name
>> - Why not have int8, uint8, int32, uint32, etc. in
>>   default namespace, encourage their use?
>>
>> I agree. It's hard to guess the size and signedness of types 
>> as byte, ubyte,
>> wchar, dchar. I prefer names that are more clear.
>
> It would only be a trivial problem for 5 minutes, only for 
> ex-C/C++ programmers who are used to suffering under variable 
> sized ints, and will never be a problem again.
>
> Is it really a problem to guess the size of 'byte'? Or that 
> 'ubyte' is unsigned? Come on, bearophile!
>
> And frankly, int32, long64, etc., have a large 'yech' factor 
> for me.
>
> Besides, if you really do want them,
>
>     import core.stdc.stdint;

It was a relief to go from C++ to D and be guaranteed the sizes. 
No 'u' is signed, 'u' is unsigned, simple as simple gets. Took me 
a little while to learn and adjust, but not much.

I didn't know about core.stdc.stdint; I may use it for the few 
cases where the size is very important with no room for 
erroneously choosing the wrong one.

Slam dunk!

--rt