I don't like auto. (the auto-typing I mean)

[Kyle Furlong]

Oskar Linde wrote:
> Jarrett Billingsley wrote:
> 
>> More and more I see D code strewn with
>>
>> auto someVariable = someExpression();
>>
>> I don't like this.  A bit.
>>
>> Everyone seems to be treating auto like it's the best damn thing to come
>> out
>> in the language in a long time.  Now in some cases, it's really obvious
>> what the type is, and sometimes saves a lot of typing:
>>
> [snip]
>> auto fork = someFunction();
>>
>> Oh boy.  What type is it now?  I have to look up someFunction in the docs,
>> or if there are no docs, in the code itself.  What module was someFunction
>> in again?  Hmm....  where is it...  wasted time.
> 
> Both C and C++ are full of unnamed temporaries whose types get inferred
> automatically. Compare the above auto statement to:
> 
> someOtherFunction(someFunction());
> 
> How do you now know the type of someFunction()?
> 
> I'm sure you are not proposing that everyone should write:
> 
> someOtherFunction((float)someFunction());
> 
> So why is this any different from:
> 
> auto fork = someFunction();
> someOtherFunction(fork);
> 
> ?
> 
> /Oskar

Good point