T[new] misgivings

[Walter Bright]

Don wrote:
> Max Samukha wrote:
>> // arrays are true reference types
>> int[new] a = [1, 2, 3];
>> b = a;
>> a.length = 22;
>> assert (a.length == b.length);
> 
> This makes perfect sense to me. The rule would be:
> If 'x' is T[new], then:
> x = y; _always_ copies y into a {length, capacity-specified block}, 
> unless it already is one. x is given a pointer to the start of that block.
> x[] = y[]; does a memcpy, regardless of whether y is a T[new] or a T[].

Right. Assignment of a reference type does not copy the values of what 
is referred to. Only the reference is copied.

I think it would be very strange to have T[] behave like a reference 
type (which it does now) and T[new] to behave like a value type.