Rant: Date and Time fall short of simplicity in D

[Steven Schveighoffer]

On Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:22:43 -0400, Timon Gehr <timon.gehr at gmx.ch> wrote:

> On 03/29/2013 03:20 PM, Timon Gehr wrote:
>> On 03/29/2013 03:03 PM, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>>> ...
>>>
>>> 3. I HATE "safe" cast conversions.  If you want to make a conversion,
>>> use a method/property.  I don't even know why D allows overloading
>>> casting.  Casts are way too blunt for this.
>>> ...
>>
>> The only conceivable reason is opCast!bool, eg. for use in if  
>> conditions.
>
> (In case this is not clear, a conversion method cannot really do the job  
> satisfactorily because of the if(auto x = foo()) construct.)

That one I don't mind, because it is an implicit cast.  I think that  
feature actually would be better served by opBool or opTest or something  
like that.

It's the explicit casts which are horrible.  Cast makes type-checking go  
away to some degree, it's like requiring a sledge hammer to put in finish  
nails.  Plus the syntax is awkward.

-Steve