Suggestion: Remove implicit conversion from T[n] and T[] to T*

[Don Clugston]

Oskar Linde wrote:
> Removing the implicit conversion from static arrays (T[n]) and dynamic 
> arrays (T[]) to pointers T* may be quite controversial, but would help 
> clear up some problems and feels like the right step to take.

> Motivation:
> 
> - Implicit conversions are generally bad. There are cases where they 
> make sense, but those need a very good reason.
> - Both conversions are available by the .ptr property already and by 
> using that the code is clearer and more self documenting.
> - T[] contains both a length and a ptr. Both are needed to retain the 
> information. Symmetrically requiring (a.ptr, a.length) makes sense.
> - Decoupling arrays from pointers somewhat lifts D to a slightly higher 
> abstraction level without losing any power.

I fully support this.
My experience so far is that the #1 cause of bugs in my D code is the 
implicit conversion from char [] to char *.
When passing a char [] to a C function, it's so easy to forget to add 
the null terminator. I've found this hard to track down, especially 
because of DMD's habit of adding a null to the end of char[] arrays; it 
means your code seems to work fine, until you use an array slice instead 
of an array...