Fixed-size arrays and 'null'
Max Samukha
spambox at d-coding.com
Thu Nov 12 02:18:26 PST 2009
Please consider the following:
import std.stdio;
void foo(int[3] a) {}
void main()
{
int[3] a = null; // 1
a = null; // 2
foo(null); // 3
if (a is null){} // 4
if (a == null){} // 5
}
1 - 2. These compile and issue runtime error. null is implicitly cast
to int[] and the program tries to assign it at runtime. Even if it is
not a bug, the error can be detected at compile-time.
3. Fails, but if 1-2 are ok, I can't see why.
4. Compiles but makes little sense.
5. This may be ok, if 1-2 are ok.
I think all of the above should fail at compile time. Just disallow
null initialization/assignment/comparison for fixed-size arrays.
The new behavior has broken some of my code relying on a type's
nullability and I would like to know if the semantics are officially
approved (provided 3 and 4 are fixed)?
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