Hopefully I have something new to add to the argument

[Jason House]

Sean Kelly wrote:

> Sean Reque wrote:
>> Thanks for the links! I was able to find through it two very long
>> discussions on this issue. One point that was brought up is that the
>> reason D implements overload resolution the way it currently does is
>> because c++ did it the same way for 20 years and no one complained. Well,
>> a lot of post were made about different aspects of the issue, so I want
>> to just focus on the area I have the biggest problem with. I didn't read
>> EVERY post, but I hope this is a newer way of looking at it.
> 
> Here are some of the posts that I was thinking of in particular:
> 
>
http://www.digitalmars.com/pnews/read.php?server=news.digitalmars.com&group=digitalmars.D&artnum=56391
>
http://www.digitalmars.com/pnews/read.php?server=news.digitalmars.com&group=digitalmars.D&artnum=56414
>
http://www.digitalmars.com/pnews/read.php?server=news.digitalmars.com&group=digitalmars.D&artnum=56418
> 
> The different overload resolution schemes between C++ and D may be a
> factor as well.
> 
> 
> Sean

Wow...  That's a pretty evil bug.  I think I have to agree with Sean Reque
in that this type of thing really can't sit around as a bomb at runtime.

I was under the impression that shadowing superclass functions was an ERROR
and that if a function was to be defined with the same name that it had to
use the override keyword to make the programmer's intent clear.  I'm almost
certain that shadowing variables in functions is an ERROR.  This seems even
more evil.

I'd really, really hope that a language that includes design by contract,
unit testing, and enhanced const correctness would do a better job handling
this class of problem.  I'd expect some kind of specialized syntax to mark
this type of questionable code as the programmer's intent.  It seems to me
that in the squareIt example, accessing a D instance via a B reference
should be illegal...

Maybe I should go back and read that whole thread on this topic before I
post more...