The "no gc" crowd

[Sean Kelly]

On Oct 10, 2013, at 11:21 AM, Joseph Rushton Wakeling <joseph.wakeling at webdrake.net> wrote:

> On 10/10/13 19:46, Sean Kelly wrote:
>> As for const / immutable, I guess I don't see this as such an issue because I've been dealing with it in C++ for so long.  You either have to commit 100% to using const attributes or not use them at all.  Anything in between is fraught with problems.
> 
> Well, the problem is essentially that you can have a function like:
> 
>    void foo(int i) { ... }
> 
> ... and if you pass it an immutable or const int, this is not a problem, because you're passing by value.
> 
> But now try
> 
>    void foo(BigInt i) { ... }
> 
> ... and it won't work when passed a const/immutable variable, even though again you're passing by value.  That's not nice, not intuitive, and generally speaking makes working with complex data types annoying.
> 
> It's why, for example, std.math.abs currently works with BigInt but not with const or immutable BigInt -- which is very irritating indeed.


Isn't BigInt a struct?  I'd expect it to work via copying just like concrete types.