Multiple return values...

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

On 3/15/12 11:30 AM, Manu wrote:
> On 15 March 2012 17:32, Andrei Alexandrescu
> <SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org <mailto:SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org>>
> wrote:
>     One note - the code is really ingenious, but I still prefer swap()
>     in this case. It's more concise and does less work in the general case.
>
>     swap(a[i + k], a[j + j]);
>
>     only computes the indexing once (in source, too).
>
>
> It all still feels to me like a generally ugly hack around the original
> example:
>    a,b = b,a;

It's a function call. Why is a function call a ugly hack?

It's also more verbose. Compare

swap(a[i + k], a[i + j]);

with

a[i + k], a[i + j] = a[i + j], a[i + k];

I mean one could even easily miss a typo in there.

There's also semantic issues to be defined. What is the order of 
evaluation in

f(), g() = h(), k();

?

All of this adds dead weight to the language. We shouldn't reach to new 
syntax for every single little thing.


Andrei