@noreturn property

[Rainer Deyke]

On 10/21/2010 05:54, Iain Buclaw wrote:
> @noreturn void fatal()
> {
>     print("Error");
>     exit(1);
> }

> Thoughts?

This looks wrong to me.  'fatal' returns type 'void', except that it
doesn't.  I would prefer this:

null_type fatal()
{
    print("Error");
    exit(1);
}

Here 'null_type' is a type that has no values, as opposed to 'void'
which has only one possible value.  No variables may be declared of type
'null_type'.  A function with a return type of 'null_type' never returns.

Either way would work (and this feature is definitely useful), but
'null_type' has some significant advantages:
  - It can be used in delegates and function pointers.
  - It can be used in generic code where you don't know if a function
will return or not.
  - It makes for more concise code.

Feel free to think of a better name than 'null_type'.


-- 
Rainer Deyke - rainerd at eldwood.com