Returning a struct by reference

[grauzone]

Simon TRENY wrote:
> Hi there!
> 
> I'm quite new at D and I'm still just playing with it, but there is a thing that I find currently missing. Sometimes, I'd like to be able to return a struct by reference and not by value. For example, in the following example:
> 
> struct Position {
>    float x;
>    float y;
> }
> 
> class Object {
>    private Position m_position;
> 
>    public Position position() {
>       return m_position;
>    }
> }
> 
> I'd like to be able to write things like this: myObject.position.x = 43 to actually change the position of the object. But right now, since "position" is a struct, it is returned by value and not by reference, and then the previous instruction won't change the position of the object, but it will work on a copy of the position field.
> 
> 
> Here is the solutions that I can see to this problem:
> 
> - Returning a pointer to the position: "public Position *position() { ... }", but I'd like to keep my code as free from pointers as possible.
>  - Make "Position" a class and not a struct. That could be a solution, but then, when I'll do things like "Position pos = object.position; pos.x = 43;", it will effectively change the position of the object, which I wouldn't like with this syntax.
> 
> Actually, I'd like to be able to do a thing like this:
>    public ref Position position() {
>       return m_position;
>    }
> which would be the equivalent form to passing structs by reference in a parameter.
> 
> Is there a way to do this in D?

Yes. Make the variable public.

class Object {
	Position position;
}

This code is even simpler than your's above. Incredible, isn't it?

> Regards,
> Simon
>