I wish all qualifiers were revisited with an eye for simplification

[Manu]

On Mon, Aug 3, 2020 at 6:55 AM Andrei Alexandrescu via Digitalmars-d <
digitalmars-d at puremagic.com> wrote:

> (Background: qualifiers were introduced following my horror when I
> started writing D1 code and saw that strings are represented as char[].
> So structs with string members would look like:
>
> struct Widget
> {
>      int x, y;
>      char[] name, parentName;
>      ...
> }
>
> I found it just shocking that following a Widget's construction whoever
> aliased the same strings the outside could change members of the Widget
> without Widget knowing. Of course, other D1 coders disliked that as
> well, so they'd defensively duplicate in the constructor:
>
> struct Widget
> {
>      int x, y;
>      char[] name, parentName;
>      this(char[] n, char[] p)
>      {
>          name = n.dup;
>          parentName = p.dup;
>      }
>      ...
> }
>
> thus ensuring proliferation of the garbage whether duplication was
> needed or not.
>
> I found this absolutely maddening, to the extent I didn't think D could
> be ever used at any considerable scale while dragging this anchor behind
> it.
>
> The second problem was Walter was adamant about using arrays of
> characters at strings. He found the notion of a library-defined string
> type (a la C++) an absolute abomination. Stubborn about it like I've
> never seen him before or after. So my unstoppable requests for a string
> type were met with the proverbial immovable refusal. Ironically, much of
> his argument came from an efficiency angle, yet the unnecessary
> duplication was way less efficient than some reference counting/small
> string optimization/etc scheme that a dedicated string type would use.
>
> Then we figured things would work out if we arranged things such that
> people could NOT change individual characters of a string. That would
> allow sharing without the danger of long-distance influence. After many
> discussions with Walter, Bartosz, Eric, Brad, and myself, immutable and
> const were born.
>
> Then followed the other qualifiers, in order: shared and inout.)
>
> * * *
>
> The result is... there: https://dlang.org/spec/const3.html. It has the
> images https://dlang.org/images/qualifier-combinations.svg and
> https://dlang.org/images/qualifier-conversions.svg and a large table and
> a lot of rules. Whenever I code anything generic, I find myself going
> back to those damn images and tables way more than anyone ought to. (And
> it's ironic... I made those. Woe to the relative newcomer.)
>
> It's all too complicated, making generic D programming into 3D chess
> instead of the difficult endeavor it already is. And what does it buy
> us? Well, we don't need to define a string library type. Yowzers.
> (Actually we should if we want to get rid of the GC. But then Walter
> would oppose that. So - stalemate once again.)
>
> Far as I can tell, the power/weight ratio of qualifier is very poor. I
> wish a DIP would revisit qualifiers with a stated intent to simplify
> them as much as possible. Whenever I code generically I invariably run
> into these issues:
>
> * Whatever I do, however I twitch, immutable finds the opportunity to
> lodge itself in a soft part of my body and cause constant pain. This
> doesn't work, that doesn't work. No solution for "tail immutable" -
> mutable references to immutable class instances can't be done without
> contortions. Can't assign to out immutable class references, though
> there's no reason for that (see Adam's recent post).
>
> * No matter how I dice any significant piece of code, there will be five
> casts from immutable and/or back that I can't rid of and lose sleep at
> night trying to convince myself are justified.
>
> * Every time "inout" comes within a radius of a mile of what I'm doing,
> it starts to stink like a skunk. I wish I could get a restraining order.
> I can't instantiate "inout" variables, so writing any tests or
> constraints becomes an advanced matter of defining functions and crap. I
> get frustrated, I protest to this forum, and immediately a cabal is
> raised under Timon's leadership. The cabal convinces me that inout is
> actually great and that I'm an idiot. I do get convinced, which is more
> of a proof that Timon is very good, than a testament to the conviviality
> of inout. Then I leave and get back to my code, and it stinks of inout
> again. And I hate it and myself for having to deal with it.
>
> * Nobody - probably not even Timon - knows what "shared" does or is
> supposed to do and not do. The most I got from Walter ever is "shared is
> intentionally restricted so you can't do much without a cast". Yet the
> definition of "much" and the conditions under which casting is legit are
> not anywhere to be found.
>
> * And of course, "shared" gladly partakes in qualifier combinations,
> thus spreading its stink around in a combinatorial manner. Believe it or
> not, the type "const inout shared T" exists. Of course, nobody knows
> what it really means or how it could be used.
>
> A "Define All Qualifiers" DIP would be a radical improvement of the
> state of affairs.
>

Shared recently received a `-preview` which makes it really mean something;
this is what shared means:
1. The data is shared; therefore, it is invalid to read or write that
memory.
2. The reason this is useful as an attribute, is because you are able to
attribute methods. Ability to author a set of threadsafe methods and
clearly distinguish them from non-threadsafe methods is a powerful
advantage over C++.

#2 isn't well accepted, although I've been pushing that for years. If #2
isn't strengthened, then it is my opinion that `shared` is completely
useless, and `struct Shared(T) { private: T* sharedThing; }` is just as
good.
I think shared has potential to offer critical benefit to D, and we've
talked about this personally to some length. Don't kill it yet, let's try
and fix it. Although it's worth recognising that if we don't fix it, then
it might as well be killed as it stands today.
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