Auto syntax revisited

[Sean Kelly]

Fredrik Olsson wrote:
> After some discussion on #d I though why not put my thoughts into more 
> permanent writing.
> 
> Keyword auto is used for two reasons; implicit type and making sure the 
> object is destroyed when going out of scope. I suggest a new keyword for 
> the latter: local.
> 
> local auto foo = new Bar();

If we're moving towards stack-based auto classes then I'd prefer the 
distinction be associated with the object and not the reference.  ie.

auto foo = local Bar();

I think the distinction is important because foo can be reassigned to a 
non-local object.  Alternately, simply omitting 'new' entirely might be 
feasible, though the meaning there is less obvious.  As I said in #d:

Foo Bar() { return new Foo(); }

auto foo = Bar();

looks like a stack-based initialization even though it's not.  But 
perhaps it doesn't matter in this case, as nothing will break if a 
heap-based instance is used in place of a stack-based instance, it's 
replacing things the other direction that can cause problems.


Sean