CTFE and DI: The Crossroads of D

[Adam Wilson]

On Thu, 10 May 2012 09:56:06 -0700, Steven Schveighoffer  
<schveiguy at yahoo.com> wrote:

> On Thu, 10 May 2012 12:04:44 -0400, deadalnix <deadalnix at gmail.com>  
> wrote:
>
>> Le 10/05/2012 17:54, Steven Schveighoffer a écrit :
>>> On Thu, 10 May 2012 10:47:59 -0400, Andrei Alexandrescu
>>> <SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 5/10/12 6:17 AM, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>>>>> On Wed, 09 May 2012 23:00:07 -0400, Andrei Alexandrescu
>>>>> <SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org> wrote:
>>>>>> Actually the point here is to still be able to benefit of di  
>>>>>> automated
>>>>>> generation while opportunistically marking certain functions as "put
>>>>>> the body in the .di file".
>>>>>
>>>>> If you aren't going to strip the files, I don't see the point in it.
>>>>
>>>> Inlining.
>>>
>>> No, I mean if dmd -H isn't going to strip the files, what is the point
>>> of dmd -H? I can already copy the .d to .di and have inlining/ctfe, or
>>> simply use the .d directly.
>>>
>>> At this point, in order to get CTFE to work, you have to keep just  
>>> about
>>> everything, including private imports. If we want to ensure CTFE works,
>>> dmd -H becomes a glorified cp. If we have some half-assed guess at what
>>> could be CTFE'd (which is growing by the day), then it's likely to not
>>> fit with the goals of the developer running dmd -H.
>>>
>>> -Steve
>>
>> If you can CTFE, you can know what is CTFEable. If it is currently half  
>> assed, then work on it and provide a better tool.
>
> There is already a better tool -- cp.  I ask again, what is the benefit  
> of .di generation if it is mostly a glorified (faulty?) copy operation?
>
> As Adam points out in his original post, ensuring CTFE availability may  
> not be (and is likely not) why you are creating a .di file.
>
> Plus, what isn't CTFEable today may be CTFEable tomorrow.
>
> inlining is one thing, because that's an optimization that has a valid  
> fallback.  CTFE does not.
>
> -Steve

FYI, I've submitted the pull request and it is passing the autotester.

-- 
Adam Wilson
IRC: LightBender
Project Coordinator
The Horizon Project
http://www.thehorizonproject.org/