plans for macros

[boyd]

On Thu, 15 May 2008 21:18:06 +0200, Steven Schveighoffer  
<schveiguy at yahoo.com> wrote:

> "boyd" wrote
>> What about just adding an if statement-within this kind of template?
>> Wouldn't that suffice?
>>
>> Using the ',' instead of concatenation can prevent a lot of complicated
>> string functions. The only difference between that and macro's would be
>> the function call and putting the objects on the stack. Basically the  
>> only
>> advantage of macros would be that the function call is inlined.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Boyd
>
> That helps, but the arguments are still evaluated even if the if  
> statement
> is false.
>
> For example:
>
> int logLevel;
> void Log(T...)(T t)
> {
>    if(logLevel > 3)
>      writefln(t);
> }
>
> class C
> {
>    char[] toString() { return "This " ~ " is a C"; }
> }
>
> void main()
> {
>   logLevel = 2;
>   auto c = new C;
>   Log(c);
> }
>
> In this case, the concatenation done in C.toString() is still evaluated,
> even though we aren't going to use it.  That is what the lazy delegates
> helps with.  You can 'fix' this by doing:
>
> void Log(T...)(lazy T t) {/*same implementation*/}
>
> And now, if the log level is <= 3, the delegates are never called, and no
> expensive concatenation is done when it won't be used.
>
> But that means that each argument has a delegate created for it, plus you
> are generating lots of extra template functions, when the macro way of
> building the code into the call site would generate almost no extra code,
> and would need no delegates.  Not to mention the issue with static  
> strings
> and IFTI.
>
> I do not deny that the problem is solvable with current language  
> features.
> However, it is more correctly and *efficiently* solved with macros.  I'm
> just trying to find out if the syntax will be palatable.
>
> -Steve
--------

I see your point. Yeah, I think I'll definately turn my Log function into  
a macro when they become part of D.

There is some information on macros in the presentation of the  
D-conference 2007.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/dconf2007/WalterAndrei.pdf

It says there that names can be looked up in context of the macro  
definition. It doesn't say if that scope can actually be an instance of a  
class though. I guess this question can only be answered by the D language  
developers.

There is also something about function declarations acting like class  
members. So a function:

void inc(ref int a)
{
     a++;
}

could be called like this:

a.inc();

Again there is no telling whether this will go for macros as well, but I  
think the chances that it eventually will are positive. It's the kind of  
syntactic sugar similar to other stuff in D that Walter seems to like.

And otherwise you'll be stuck with Log(MyLog312, "logging stuff"), which  
is not that bad either.

Cheers,
Boyd