[Issue 5775] New: "body" keyword is unnecessary

[d-bugmail at puremagic.com]

http://d.puremagic.com/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=5775

           Summary: "body" keyword is unnecessary
           Product: D
           Version: D2
          Platform: All
        OS/Version: All
            Status: NEW
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P2
         Component: DMD
        AssignedTo: nobody at puremagic.com
        ReportedBy: alvaro.segura at gmail.com


--- Comment #0 from Alvaro <alvaro.segura at gmail.com> 2011-03-23 14:46:55 PDT ---
D already has a long list of keywords, and those reserved words can't be used
as identifiers. "body" in particular is a common noun that programmers would
gladly use as variable name in physics simulation, astronomy, mechanics, games,
health, etc. I think "body" can be removed from D with no harm, and with the
benefit of allowing the name as identifier.

Rationale: Functions in C and derived languages have always had a body and they
never needed a keyword. In D, "body" is used to mark the actual body of a
function after the optional "in" and/or "out" contract blocks. From the
documentation:

in{
    ...contract preconditions...
}
out (result){
    ...contract postconditions...
}
body{
    ...code...
}

But the body keyword can be omitted and still interpret the code correctly
given the rule: "An unnamed {} block right after an in{} or out{} block when
defining a function, MUST be the function's body".

Thus, the above code would become:

in{
    ...contract preconditions...
}
out (result){
    ...contract postconditions...
}
{
    ...code...
}

and be perfectly understandable, with the benefit of one less keyword.

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