[Issue 1985] import expression should return ubyte[] not string

[d-bugmail at puremagic.com]

https://issues.dlang.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1985

--- Comment #19 from Mike Parker <aldacron at gmail.com> ---
(In reply to ag0aep6g from comment #17)

> Age ("it's been that way for years") is not a reason to not fix an issue.

Perhaps if the issue is a bug, e.g., unintended behavior, but that is not the
case here. The longer a feature has existed, working as intended, the bigger
the chance people will have come to depend on it. 

> 
> We're still left with breakage as the one reason to not fix this. And that's
> a vague one. You guys either "have no idea" how widely it is used, or you
> (RazvanN) believe that it is not used widely. On what basis do you assert
> that breakage would be too large?

I didn't say it would be large. I said there is a *potential* for breakage, and
that's based on the fact that the feature has been around for a very long time.
I know that Walter and Atila generally don't want to break code unless there is
a strong benefit to doing so. The fact that .representation is available
minimizes the benefit. 

So the onus is on someone who wants this feature badly enough to come up with a
benefit that justifies the potential breakage and outweighs the existing
alternatives. That goes for changing any existing feature.

> 
> As I see it, RazvanN has been looking for old issues that can be closed
> easily. And now you're working backwards to justify the questionable
> decision.

I'm not "working backwards". I genuinely believe it shouldn't be changed.

Regardless, it's ultimately not up to me and Razvan. If Walter and Atila think
it's a good idea, that's all that matters. I do think Razvan is justified in
closing the issue, though, as I would expect this sort of change to require a
DIP, a preview switch, and a deprecation cycle.

At the very least, someone should scan the dub repository to get an idea of how
much this is used in the wild. And D shops should be queried on their use of
it.

I've personally used it for code that's not on github (embedding an image), and
I had no problem using .representation. Didn't think twice about it. I also
would have no problem changing my code if the proposed change were implemented,
but I know there are plenty of D users who are generally averse to any sort of
breakage.

But please, if you feel strongly enough about it, take it to the forums and see
what people think. Walter and/or Atila would probably weigh in on such a
discussion.

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