An (old/new?) pattern to utilize phobos better with @nogc

Dukc ajieskola at gmail.com
Sat Jun 16 11:58:47 UTC 2018


I think I have just found a pattern to ease the pain of @nogc 
programming somewhat. Consider this:

import std.algorithm;
import std.range;

@nogc void main()
{   import core.stdc.stdio;
     int power = 2;
     foreach
     (   raised;
         iota(10)
         .dropOne
         .map!(num => num^^power)
     ) printf("%d\n", raised);
}

It won't compile, because the lambda argument on map uses the 
local variable power. Compiler thinks it must allocate that 
variable in heap, using gc, lest the lambda function could 
overlive power.

So that is probably one big reason for complains about Phobos 
when you can't use the garbage collector. This hurdle won't make 
it useless, though. You can avoid the problem this way:

import std.algorithm;
import std.range;

@nogc void main()
{   import core.stdc.stdio;
     int power = 2;
     foreach
     (   raised;
         iota(10)
         .dropOne
         .zip(power.repeat)
         .map!(arg => arg[0]^^arg[1])
     ) printf("%d\n", raised);
}

It works, but arg[0] and arg[1] are fairly much book examples on 
how to NOT name your variables.

But with a little bit of help, the library can still do better:

import std.algorithm;
import std.range;

@nogc void main()
{   import core.stdc.stdio;
     int power = 2;
     foreach
     (   raised;
         iota(10)
         .dropOne
         .zip(power.repeat)
         .map!(tupArg!((num, pow) => num^^pow))
     ) printf("%d\n", raised);
}

alias tupArg(alias func) = x => func(x.expand);


Yes, it makes the syntax heavier, and in a simple case like this 
it's arguable whether it's worth it.

But for me at least, when the complexity of the map alias 
parameter starts rising, having the ability to name your 
variables definitely pays back.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with this coding pattern?


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