Can't add ubytes together to make a ubyte... bug or feature?

[Ali Çehreli via Digitalmars-d-learn]

On 01/19/2016 02:12 PM, Soviet Friend wrote:

 > ubytes get converted to ints when being added...

It's a common feature involving all integral type in languages like C, 
C++, and D:

   https://dlang.org/spec/type.html#integer-promotions

 > On the topic of complaining about casting... array lengths as ulongs is
 > painful... any chance of an array[].lengthi being a thing?

That is a topic sometimes with hot debate without any resolution. 
Chances of it being changed in D is zero. :) Luckily, it's pretty easy 
in :D ;)

long lengthi(T)(T[] arr) {
     import std.exception : enforce;
     import std.conv : to;

     // No overflow here because this comparison is performed in 'ulong'
     enforce(arr.length.to!ulong < long.max);

     return arr.length.to!long;
}

unittest {
     import std.traits;
     auto arr = [ 1, 2 ];

     static assert(isSigned!(typeof(arr.lengthi)));
     assert(arr.lengthi == 2);
}


void main() {
}

Ali