proposal: add bytesof Property, reduce pointer/cast requires

[redsea]

This help some, but it don't work at static array, and literal integer, read following, the first call is ok, next 2 call is not ok, change ref to in cause other problems, still not ok.  (d 1.022)

module test;

import tango.io.Stdout;
alias Stdout od;

byte[] bytesof(T)(ref T t)
{
    return (cast(byte*)&t)[0 .. t.sizeof];
}

struct SS
{
    int a;
    int b;
}

int main()
{
    SS [10] as;

    SS s;

    od(bytesof(s).length).newline;

    od(bytesof(as).length).newline;

    od(bytesof(3).length).newline;
    return 0;
}



Jarrett Billingsley Wrote:

> "redsea" <redsea at 163.com> wrote in message 
> news:fho4go$1r6t$1 at digitalmars.com...
> >I found D's array and slice is very useful, most time I can use byte [] to 
> >finish my work without using pointer.
> >
> > But when I need to copy from/to a struct I need to use code like this:
> >
> > byteary[i..i+structvar.sizeof] = (cast (byte 
> > *)&structvar)[0..structvar.sizeof)
> >
> > the cast, the &, looking bad, and code is complex.
> >
> > if d can supply a internal property, let's say bytes of, can give us the 
> > correctly byte [] slice, then I can write:
> >
> > byteary[i..i+struct.var.sizeof] = structvar.bytesof
> >
> > and, when we write a function send struct to network, we can simple write:
> > void sendPacket(byte[] content);
> >
> > and we can use as that:
> >
> > sendPacket(structvar.bytesof);
> >
> > any suggestions ?
> >
> 
> byte[] bytesOf(T)(ref T t)
> {
>     return (cast(byte*)&t)[0 .. t.sizeof];
> }
> 
> byteArray[i .. i + struct.var.sizeof] = bytesOf(structVar);
> sendPacket(bytesOf(structVar)); 
> 
>