Function calls

[Steven Schveighoffer]

On Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:22:45 -0500, Adam D. Ruppe  
<destructionator at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 11:47:45AM -0300, Leandro Lucarella wrote:
>> Andrei Alexandrescu, el 28 de enero a las 07:57 me escribiste:
>> > I need to put it for all front() and empty() declarations. By the
>> > way I decided that popFront() is not a property. I don't know why.
>>
>> Because it denotes an action?
>
> I don't think it is that simple - I see popFront; as an action all the
> same as popFront();

Whether you use parentheses or not, it's not a property.  The statement of  
Andrei is that he doesn't know why it's not a property.  The simple reason  
is because it's an action.

Now, does popFront; look like an action?  Yes.  But that is not the case  
being disambiguated.  It is collateral damage.  Because the compiler  
doesn't understand English, it can't know whether to disallow popFront;  
any more than an ambiguous term like read;.  If there were a way to  
enforce "only terms that are clearly denote actions can be called without  
parentheses," I'd be all for it.

-Steve