Disallow arrays as pointers

[bearophile]

I have translated C code similar to:


something foo(int n) {
    int *array = malloc(n * sizeof(int));

    int i;
    for (...) {
        for (i = 0; i < n; i++, array++) {
            *array = ...;
            *array = ...;
        }
    ...
}


Into D2 code similar to:


something foo(int n) {
    auto array = new int[n];

    size_t index;
    foreach (...) {
        foreach (i; 0 .. n) {
            array[index] = ...;
            *array = ...;
            index++;
        }
    ...
}


Do you see the bug I have found during the debugging? 

I think the D2 compiler has to catch this bug:

*array = ...;

D arrays aren't pointers. Letting the compiler see them as pointers is bug-prone, not tidy, and doesn't help D newbies understand how D represents its arrays.


My bug report:
http://d.puremagic.com/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=3990


Some very good comments about this topic:
http://www.digitalmars.com/webnews/newsgroups.php?art_group=digitalmars.D&article_id=135391

Bye,
bearophile