refInt = ref int: how to achieve this? or is this a bug?

[Stanislav Blinov]

On Wednesday, 17 June 2020 at 22:09:35 UTC, mw wrote:

> My thought is that: pointer and reference are all types of its 
> own right:
>
> typedef `int*` is ptr in C++
> typedef `int&` is ref in C++
>
> and can you see the beauty of this symmetry?  :-)

No, I can't.

typedef int* intPtr;
const intPtr ip = new int;
typedef int& intRef;
const intRef i = 3; // oops, does not compile

> In D, alias can correctly treat int* as pointer type, but treat 
> `ref int` as `int`, this break the symmetry

ref int is not a type. What should break is the line

alias intRef = ref int;

should not compile. Looks like it does compile. That's a bug.

> alias `int*`    is       ptr  in D
> alias `ref int` becomes *int* in D
>
> can you see the visual ugliness of this? :-) not even to 
> mention the semantic ugliness:

You're conflating reference types and pass by reference. These 
are not the same thing in D, and never will be.