The demise of T[new]

[grauzone]

Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> Don wrote:
>> Walter Bright wrote:
>>> The purpose of T[new] was to solve the problems T[] had with passing 
>>> T[] to a function and then the function resizes the T[]. What happens 
>>> with the original?
>>>
>>> The solution we came up with was to create a third array type, 
>>> T[new], which was a reference type.
>>>
>>> Andrei had the idea that T[new] could be dispensed with by making a 
>>> "builder" library type to handle creating arrays by doing things like 
>>> appending, and then delivering a finished T[] type. This is similar 
>>> to what std.outbuffer and std.array.Appender do, they just need a bit 
>>> of refining.
>>>
>>> The .length property of T[] would then become an rvalue only, not an 
>>> lvalue, and ~= would no longer be allowed for T[].
>>>
>>> We both feel that this would simplify D, make it more flexible, and 
>>> remove some awkward corner cases like the inability to say a.length++.
>>>
>>> What do you think?
>>
>> Since noone else seems to have said it: The fact that you're both 
>> willing to let it go, after having already invested a lot of time in 
>> it, is a good sign for the language. Well done.
> 
> I'm relieved that somebody mentioned that :o). As soon as we gave up 
> with T[new], people started to sell it to us. We should preemptively 
> post about eliminating feature plans before actually implementing them.
> 
> By the way: implementation of @property has been canceled.

Yeah, let's just keep the language in the broken state it is, because we 
can't think of a better solution.

> Andrei