Editions Ideas

[Paul Backus]

On Saturday, 27 December 2025 at 14:00:19 UTC, libxmoc wrote:
> None of that would matter if D had a specific way to use 
> builtins.
>
> Example:
>
> ```
>
> struct Actor
> {
>     @:property // : = builtin
>     int hp();
>
> }
> ```
>
> This way, language maintainers could use whatever names they 
> want without forcing users to cede common identifiers.

D already has a solution for this: compiler-recognized UDAs in 
`core.attribute`.

```d
// If 'property' weren't reserved, this could work
import core.attribute: property;

struct Actor
{
     @property int hp();
}
```

The only thing keeping us from migrating existing attributes to 
`core.attribute` is backwards compatibility--existing code would 
be forced to add `import` statements to avoid breakage. But with 
editions, making a change like this is probably feasible.