Difference between slice[] and slice

[WhatMeWorry]

On Wednesday, 25 September 2019 at 19:25:06 UTC, Ali Çehreli 
wrote:
> On 09/25/2019 12:06 PM, WhatMeWorry wrote:
>
> > I was
> > assuming that [] meant "the entirety" of the array.
>
> Assuming we're talking about D slices, Yes. (It could be a 
> user-defined type with surprisingly different semantics.)
>
> > In short, is there anytime that one would want to use
> "slice[] =
> > something" syntax?I
>
> That changes element values.

Ok.  But which element(s)?  In my specific case, I was using []. 
Is

waste[] = waste[0..$-1];

even semantically meaningful?  Because the LDC compiler had no 
problem compiling it.


>
> > //waste[] = waste[0..$-1]; // object.Error@(0): Array lengths
> don't
> > match for copy: 0 != 1
> >
> >      waste = waste[0..$-1]; // works
>
> That makes slice refer to a different set of elements. In that 
> example, the slice does not include the last element anymore.
>
> Ali