Passing dynamic arrays

[Jonathan M Davis]

On Monday, November 08, 2010 16:11:46 so wrote:
> > I like that explanation. Jonathan is saying the same, I think. I'll
> > guess my misunderstanding is mainly caused by figuring out that a
> > reassign is happening and that a reassign to a reference changes the
> > reference. In C++ you cannot change a reference (I hope I'm right
> > here.). When using a std::vector one does not need to think about this.
> > What's the general use of a = new A() in the above code? Where is it
> > useful?
> > 
> > Jens
> 
> Yes in C++, you can't redirect a reference after initialization.
> And also can't have a std::vector of references which is mainly by this
> reason.

D references are more like Java references. They're really pointers, but you 
don't have to dereference them, so you can reassign them to something else. You 
can't do that in C++, because references are treated more like name aliases of 
variables than pointers. So, if you think in terms of C++ pointers vs D 
references, then C++ and D function the same in this respect.

- Jonathan M Davis