Pointers vs. References

[Lionello Lunesu]

Michael Neumann wrote:
> Synapse x = ...;
> while (x != null)
> {
> }
> 
> This segfaults, while:
> 
> Synapse x = ...
> while (!(x is null))
> {
> }
> 
> does not.

That's not a bug.
'==' and '!=' result in a call to opEquals, which is likely to segfault 
when one of the operands is null. You should use 'is' or in your case '!is'.

while (x !is null)
{
}

As for your question about references. A reference is basically the same 
as a pointer, so there should be no performance difference between the 
two. Without more details, it's hard to say what could be the reason 
behind the bad performance.

L.