Associative Arrays in the data segment

[Daniel Murphy via Digitalmars-d]

"Steven Schveighoffer"  wrote in message 
news:mg8ln4$1dtb$1 at digitalmars.com...

> It's all the rage these days, Walter just started a thread on it ;)

Thread != activity.

> But the issue I see is that this is a step BACKWARDS. We want to move to 
> more possibility of customization, not less. Subtle differences in 
> compiler/library implementation are the stuff nightmare bugs are made of.

It lets us do something we currently can't do but want to, at the cost of 
making something we could do but haven't for years slightly harder.

If somebody really wants to improve the runtime AA implementation, they can
a) Update the compiler code to do the same thing
b) Ask me and I'll do it

Not being able to put AAs in the data segment is a stupid limitation that we 
should have fixed years ago.

> I think it's possible now, but nobody has been able to exactly duplicate 
> certain aspects of the builtin AA. I may take a stab at it. We also had a 
> horrible experience of "half-library half magic" type a few years ago.

The only positive thing that's made it into master in the last few years is 
rolling back the AA implementation.

> But the real answer is, as soon as someone does it who has 
> Walter's/Kenji's/your ear, we can create an AA, and fix the compiler to 
> use and support it. It needs an advocate (who is willing to do the hard 
> work).

I'm not holding my breath.