D/Objective-C, extern (Objective-C)

[Sönke Ludwig]

Am 24.06.2013 23:26, schrieb bearophile:
> Walter Bright:
> 
>> Yes, but since I don't know much about O-C programming, the feature
>> should be labeled "experimental" until we're sure it's the right design.
> 
> This change opens a new target of D development (well, it was already
> open for the people willing to use a not standard dmd compiler), but it
> also introduce some extra complexity in the language, that every D
> programmer will have to pay forever, even all the ones that will not use
> those features. So such changes need to be introduced with care and
> after extensive discussions in the main newsgroup. Probably each one new
> thing introduced needs a separate discussion.
> 
> Bye,
> bearophile

I agree. Even though it may not be mentioned in books and many people
may never see the changes, it still *does* make the language more
complex. One consequence is that language processing tools (compilers,
syntax highlighters etc.) get updated/written with this in mind.

This is why I would also suggest to try and make another pass over the
changes, trying to move every bit from language to library that is
possible - without compromising the result too much, of course (e.g. due
to template bloat like in the older D->ObjC bridge). Maybe it's possible
to put some things into __traits or other more general facilities to
avoid changing the language grammar.

On the other hand I actually very much hate to suggest this, as it
probably causes a lot of additional work. But really, we shouldn't take
*any* language additions lightly, even relatively isolated ones. Like
always, new syntax must be able to "pull its own weight" (IMO, of course).