Function calls

[Denis Koroskin]

On Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:28:17 +0300, Lars T. Kyllingstad  
<public at kyllingen.nospamnet> wrote:

> Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>> 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
>
> ...or, as in Andrei's example, 'empty'.  In Java you'd write isEmpty(),  
> or even worse, getEmpty().  In D we now have the option of declaring it  
> a property, with little chance of people thinking it actually empties  
> anything.
>
> -Lars

Great explanation, very convincing!