Dithering about ranges

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

Steve Teale wrote:
> Andrei Alexandrescu Wrote:
> 
>> I don't quite understand this. Ranges are a very simple abstraction
>> for iteration. They show how other iteration abstractions either
>> were too unsafe and verbose (C++/STL) or too bare-bones (C#
>> iterators, Java iterators, singly-linked lists used by functional
>> languages), so in that regard I think they hit the spot pretty
>> nicely. Ranges are useful, but hardly a be-all end-all. Thinking of
>> building an application entirely of ranges... I can't quite parse
>> that.
>> 
>> 
>> Andrei
> 
> Andrei,
> 
> I'm still waiting to read the definitive article about ranges. Does
> this exist at present? It's nice to have something like an RFC, not
> just a new version of a standard library without warning, and just
> depend on the comments. As Walter has I think said, comments always
> lie!
> 
> Steve

Other people have explained this once, but allow me to repeat. There was 
a lengthy RFC period with discussions on the announce group entitled 
"RFC on range design for D2" supported by a document. That document has 
been since superseded by the implementation documentation which, aside 
from a few issues described by Steve in bug #3017, contains everything 
you need to define and use ranges effectively.

There was a lengthy "warning breaking changes coming" period, to the 
extent that some people on the group got tired of it.

If you are interested in ranges, the one thing you shouldn't be doing is 
to wait for a tutorial written by yours truly. What you could be doing 
in little more than the time it takes to write a long post (ahem) would 
be to grok ranges yourself and write a solid tutorial about ranges in a 
blog, web page, or online magazine. They are deceptively simple and can 
be composed in very interesting ways.

Waiting for something from Walter or myself is not the pattern to be in. 
Shin, Don, Jarrett, David, and others are doing great stuff, and 
incidentally don't whine as much (except for Jarrett -- squeaky wheel 
gets the K-Y).


Andrei