Fully dynamic d by opDotExp overloading

[Simen Kjaeraas]

Nick Sabalausky wrote:
> If the member-name parameter to opDotExp was *required* to be a template
> paramater, then I agree, and I would have no objections to having that.  
> But
> it should be pointed out that that would not actually be dynamic  
> invokation,
> since you wouldn't be able to invoke a member whose name is only known at
> run-time. (But I would love for that to be possible through a reflection
> API.)

As we can all clearly see, in obj.someDynamicFunction( "Foo!" ); "someDynamicFunction" is definately known at compile-time, and not something you could change at runtime. Thus, making the member name parameter a template parameter seems the most logical solution. The fact you can't invoke arbitrary members chosen at runtime with it has little to do with opDotExp and much to do with how the D language is. If you want true dynamic invocation you need a separate function anyway, or you'd end up with code like this:

string s = "someDynamicFunction";
obj.opDotExp( s );

Now, you could simply alias "opDotExp" to "invoke" or whatever you please, but having invoke be a separate function does not seem like a horrible trade-off to me.

--
Simen