First Impressions

[Derek Parnell]

On Fri, 29 Sep 2006 01:24:50 -0700, Walter Bright wrote:

> Derek Parnell wrote:
>> On Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:23:32 +1000, Geoff Carlton wrote:
>>> I was a bit underwhelmed by the syntax of char[].
>> 
>> Yes. It isn't very 'nice' for a modern language. Though as you note below a
>> simple alias can help a lot. 
>> 
>>    alias char[] string;
> 
> On the other hand, the reasons other languages have strings as classes 
> is because they just don't support arrays very well. C++'s std::string 
> combines the worst of core functionality and libraries, and has the 
> advantages of neither.
> 
> An early design goal for D was to upgrade arrays to the point where 
> string classes weren't necessary.

And is it there yet? I mean, given that a string is just a lump of text, is
there any text processing operation that cannot be simply done to a char[]
item? I can't think of any but maybe somebody else can.

And if a char[] is just as capable as a std::string, then why not have an
official alias in Phobos? Will 'alias char[] string' cause anyone any
problems?

-- 
Derek Parnell
Melbourne, Australia
"Down with mediocrity!"