Do we really need const?

[Bill Baxter]

Bruce Adams wrote:
> Bill Baxter Wrote:
> 
> [snip]
>> There would still be a bit of a compiler compatibility issue though. 
>> For a given platform Compiler vendors A and B would need to agree on the 
>> rules for 'in' parameters or the libs they generate would be 
>> incompatible.  If we want D to be a language with a unified ABI at 
>> least.  That suggests that the rules would need to be part of the spec. 
>>   Heck it may be good enough to just pick a max parameter size and stick 
>> with it for all platforms.  Just like D picks a size for 'float' and 
>> sticks with it for all platforms, whether it's the most efficient for 
>> that platform or not.
>>
>> --bb
> 
> That's not the same at all. There are internationally approved
> standards for floating point types. 
 > These standards are also
 > implemented in hardware more often that not.

Any Walter-approved ABI standards for the D compiler are basically 
"internationally approved" too.  But maybe a better example would have 
been "just like D picks 64 bits for a long and sticks with it whether 
it's efficient or not".

Whatever.  This is really not important.

--bb