Function calls

[Bill Baxter]

On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 1:26 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu
<SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org> wrote:
> Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:59:30 -0500, Andrei Alexandrescu
>> <SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> foreach (line; stdin.byLine()) { ... }
>>>
>>> vs.
>>>
>>> foreach (line; stdin.byLine) { ... }
>>>
>>> How do I choose?
>>
>> byLine is a property.  It is fetching a range on stdin.
>>
>> -Steve
>
> Damn. I was sure the answer will be different.

Maybe "property" is a misleading word.  Clearly there are more things
to which that applies than just what the traditional definition of the
word would imply.  I would not in English call my nose a "property" of
me, but if I were a D object and had a .nose accessor, I would
certainly think that accessor would qualify as a D property.

How's this: anything that you can "get" without specifying additional
information (and which doesn't change the outwardly visible state the
object when you do so) is a property.   The C# syntax with the special
use of "get" and "set" perhaps does a better job of conveying this.

--bb