[Issue 23833] auto dereferncing does work with alias this

[d-bugmail at puremagic.com]

https://issues.dlang.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23833

--- Comment #2 from james.gray at remss.net ---
(In reply to RazvanN from comment #1)
> The compiler does auto dereferencing only when the lhs of a dot expression
> is a pointer to an aggregate type (struct, class, interface, union). That
> does not mean that a pointer is going to always be dereferenced
> automatically. If that would be the case then that would confuse the
> overload resolution for situations such as:
> 
> foo(int a);
> foo(int* a);
> 
> Int* x;
> foo(x); -> ambiguity
> 
> Of course, a set of rules can be invented to properly implement this,
> however, the current rules are much simpler to explain: "Whenever the lhs of
> a dot expression is a pointer to an aggregate type, it will automatically be
> dereferenced".
> 
> As such, in your example, `foo(x)` is an error because there is no dot
> expression involved and type of x is Int*.
> 
> foo(x.val) works because you have a dot expression and the compiler rewrites
> to foo((*x).val).
> 
> foo(*x) works because type Int has an alias this.
> 
> As such, this bug report is an enhancement request at best, however, most
> likely it is not going to fly because the current rules are simple and work,
> whereas what is proposed is going to affect parts of the compiler in serious
> ways for no apparent benefit.
> 
> Closing as WONTFIX.

Fair enough.

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