How to implement a copy

[Paul D. Anderson]

If I'm implementing a struct and want to provide for duplication, is there a standard way to implement this?

Here's an example:

//-------------------------------

struct S {

    // members of the struct -- three integer values
    int a;
    int b;
    int c;

    // here's a copy constructor
    this(S s) {
        this.a = s.a;
        this.b = s.b;
        this.c = s.c;
    }

    // here's the dup property
    S dup() {
        S s;
        result.a = this.a;
        result.b = this.b;
        result.c = this.c;
        return s;
    }

    // here's opAssign for S
    void opAssign(S s) {
        this.a = s.a;
        this.b = s.b;
        this.c = s.c;
    }


} // end struct S

// and here's a copy function
S copy(S s) {
    S t;
    t.a = s.a;
    t.b = s.b;
    t.c = s.c;
    return t;
}

//-------------------------------

Which of these three calls is "better" (more efficient, more intuitive, more consistent...)?

S s;    // the original struct

S t = s.dup;     // copied via dup
S u = S(s);      // copied via copy constructor
S v = s;           // copied via opAssign
S w = copy(s);  // copied via copy function

Or is this a distinction without a difference?

Paul