Why isn't the array lenght property an lvalue?

[Justin Whear]

On Mon, 07 Apr 2014 20:14:13 +0000, Jeroen Bollen wrote:

> On Monday, 7 April 2014 at 20:12:48 UTC, Justin Whear wrote:
>> On Mon, 07 Apr 2014 19:13:30 +0000, Jeroen Bollen wrote:
>>
>>> When I have myarray.length, why isn't that considered an lvalue,
>>> and as a result, why cannot I get a pointer to it?
>>> 
>>> It seems kinda dumb, I understand it cannot be changed manually,
>>> but surely you should be able to get a const(type)* from it?
>>
>> I believe `length` is implemented as a property function,
>> though I can't find the source for the life of me.
> 
> Then you still should be able to get a pointer of the result. I was also
> considering it to be a @property function, as indeed that'd explain this
> behaviour, but it still doesn't make sense to not allow it. After all,
> length is just a variable.

Unless the length function returns by ref, the result is an rvalue and 
you won't be able to take a reference.