Deprecate C style declerations?

[Don Clugston]

Hasan Aljudy wrote:
> 
> 
> Gregor Richards wrote:
>> Jarrett Billingsley wrote:
>>> "Chris Nicholson-Sauls" <ibisbasenji at gmail.com> wrote in message 
>>> news:emcekr$2sah$1 at digitaldaemon.com...
>>>
>>>> Should we do this?  As in cause:
>>>>
>>>> # int foo[];
>>>> # int bar*;
>>>>
>>>> And others to issue deprecation errors.  I think it would be a good 
>>>> idea, and shouldn't break extern(C) declarations, so long as one 
>>>> doesn't try to mix types.  (I don't think we can mix them in the C 
>>>> way at all, anyhow. Haven't tried, though.)
>>>
>>>
>>> I agree, though
>>>
>>> int bar*;
>>>
>>> isn't legal any way you slice it, D or C.
>>>
>>> I'd also be interested in phasing out the C-style function pointer 
>>> syntax:
>>>
>>> int (*foo)(int, int);
>>> =>
>>> int function(int, int) foo;
>>>
>>>
>>>> Or else change the rules such that array/pointer decoration applies 
>>>> to the variable and not the type -- and correct me if I'm wrong 
>>>> about this not being the current behavior.
>>>>
>>>> # int num   ,
>>>> #     arr[] ,
>>>> #     ptr*  ;
>>>>
>>>> vs
>>>>
>>>> # int   num ;
>>>> # int[] arr ;
>>>> # int*  ptr ;
>>>
>>>
>>> I think that C "feature" was dropped in D because it makes multiple 
>>> declarations harder to read.
>>>
>>
>> Hear-hear! No need for C's crummy array syntax. Writing support for 
>> outputting the right C types in bcd.gen was a huge PITA because of it X_X
>>
>> Hear-hear particularly to deprecating the C function syntax. That 
>> syntax makes me want to gag myself with a spoon.
>>
>>  - Gregor Richards
> 
> Hear hear ..!
> I know how you feel!!
> I tried to open this subject before, but didn't get anywhere ..

I agree, too -- the main reason for retaining it was to simplify 
conversion from C code to D, but
(a) we now have ctod, so it can be automated in most cases;
(b) in my experience (eg manually translating the Windows headers), it's 
trivial to translate anyway, and it gives significant benefits to clarity.

The really weird thing about the C syntax is that you can define a 
*function type* (not just function pointers). There's no D equivalent to 
that, although I'm not aware of any uses of the construct.

We're building up a list of features that should be deprecated:
* 'length' inside slices.
* C function syntax
* C declaration syntax in general

I'd also add:
* some alternative to #line that doesn't waste the '#' symbol on such a 
rarely-used feature.

And there are probably a few more I've forgotten about.