Future of string lambda functions/string predicate functions

[Peter Alexander]

On Tuesday, 6 August 2013 at 09:05:57 UTC, Jakob Ovrum wrote:
> Specifically, I suggest the following deprecation path:
>
>  * Add deprecation notes to std.functional's unaryFun and 
> binaryFun so users are dissuaded from using them in new code. 
> In time, we would remove their documentation.
>  * Leave support for string lambdas in existing Phobos 
> functions for the foreseeable future, for 
> backwards-compatibility purposes.
>  * Change all documentation so that it doesn't mention string 
> lambdas, whether in prose or code. Phobos pull request #707 
> (Switch std.algorithm/.range to lambda syntax)[2] attempted 
> this and was approved and merged, but subsequently reverted due 
> to bugs.
>  * New functions would not support string lambdas.

Yes x 4. I think this is the perfect path to their 
semi-deprecation.

Deprecating them completely, I think, would be unwise since 
there's a lot of code out there using them. Deprecation through 
obscurity while retaining backwards-compatibility is the right 
choice.