compile time reflection to runtime reflection

[Reiner Pope]

BLS wrote:
> Warning: This idea is probabely not a strike of a genius.
> 
> Simply said : Is Mr. Compiler able to produce a binary file which 
> contains compile time reflection information ? In other words, a file 
> which enable us to create classloader.d
> 
> To make it very slick I suggest to introduce the keyword : rtf
> f.i.
> module Runtime;
> rtf class A
> output-> A.drr
> 
> another idea is version(RTF)
> 
> Well hopefully this idea is not a complete mess...
> Bjoern
> 
I'm afraid I don't entirely understand where you put the rtf... as part 
of the class's declaration?

But I think we already have enough to do it within D -- can't we use 
__traits to find about the types, and generate structs at compile-time 
using struct literals?

So you can make a template which builds up a Member[] array, and then a 
Class[] array (supposing you could list all the classes in a module), 
and then you just write (at global scope)

Class[] allClasses = GenerateRuntimeInfo!(my.module.name);

Now we can access it at runtime!


I started writing an example of how it would work, but I'm not too sure 
of the details. But I still think that compile-time reflection is 
enough: lifting information from compile-time to runtime is an easy 
enough operation. The other way is not. :)

   -- Reiner