1 matches bool, 2 matches long

[Steven Schveighoffer]

On Sat, 27 Apr 2013 13:27:39 -0700, Walter Bright  
<newshound2 at digitalmars.com> wrote:

> On 4/26/2013 11:04 PM, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>> I think the issue (and I am firmly in the foo(1) => long camp) is that  
>> bools are
>> considered better integers than actual integer types (or even floating  
>> point
>> types for that matter).  I agree that bools can be implicitly cast to  
>> and from
>> integers, as a last resort.
>
> The overload system in D is explicitly not based on "better". (The C++  
> "better" overloading system is for functions, but not for templates.)  
> The D overload system is based on partial ordering, which is the same as  
> what C++ uses for templates.
>
> I don't know for a fact, but I'm pretty sure the partial ordering scheme  
> that C++ selected for templates, which came along many years later, was  
> picked because people realized it was better (and more mathematically  
> robust and defensible).
>
> One of the problems with a "better" matching system is handling  
> functions with multiple parameters, each with their own "better" match.  
> (The C++ Standard devotes a great deal of complex text to this, it boils  
> down to a bunch of rather arbitrary decisions.) Partial ordering solves  
> this neatly and consistently.
>
> As one who implemented C++'s better matching system, I can confidently  
> state that the partial ordering scheme is FAR better overall.

I think you are inventing a strawman problem that this bug solves.  There  
is no need for a "Better" scheme, partial ordering works great, and so do  
true and false.

bool isn't an integer.  It can implicitly cast to an integer, but that's  
it.  Once we implement that rule, everything falls into place.  If you  
want to pass a "true" boolean literal, use true.  If you want to pass a  
"false" boolean literal use false.  Using 1 and 0 may be convenient, and  
may also be valid, but when it matches an integral type as well as bool,  
then it's ambiguous.

-Steve