[Issue 8008] static array literal syntax request: auto x=[1,2,3]S;

[via Digitalmars-d-bugs]

https://issues.dlang.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8008

--- Comment #6 from bearophile_hugs at eml.cc ---
(In reply to Nick Treleaven from comment #5)
> Is there an advantage of literal syntax vs. a template function
> staticArray(1, 2)?

There are various small advantages. A template function like that seems to
generate template bloat.

It's also longer to write:

[[1,2]s, [1,2]s, [1,2]s, [1,2]s]

versus:

[staticArray(1,2), staticArray(1,2), staticArray(1,2), staticArray(1,2)]

And probably []s is also faster to compile by the compiler.

Also, staticArray returns a fixed-size array, that according to the D ABI is a
pointer, and the compiler has to inline the call to staticArray to regain
efficiency. By default the D compiler inlines only if you use -inline. The []s
lacks this problem and is efficient at all compilation levels.

The []s will probably become safe to use once D has some kind of tracking of
memory ownership.

There are also some disadvantages, like a little more complexity in the D
language.

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