ref on hidden this param

[Richard (Rikki) Andrew Cattermole]

On 05/10/2025 7:49 PM, TwoOfCups wrote:
> On Sunday, 5 October 2025 at 05:58:10 UTC, Richard (Rikki) Andrew 
> Cattermole wrote:
>> On 05/10/2025 6:55 PM, TwoOfCups wrote:
>>> Well in my case I am wanting it for a specific templated 
>>> serialization scenario where the serializer has the ability to use a 
>>> proxy type to serialize as a proxy type instead of serializing it 
>>> directly. And i was wanting to serialize objects as a uuid and on 
>>> deserialization do a look up to find it but would need to reassign 
>>> the lvalue to make it work..
>>
>> A small example of this, where the proposed feature is used would be 
>> very welcome.
>>
>> I'm having trouble picturing the types and their interaction to each 
>> other.
> 
> ```
> class C {
>          int uuid;
>      int toSerial(){ // int is the proxy type
>          return uuid;
>      }
>      void fromSerial(int i){
>              // do uuid lookup and assign this if this could be ref
>      }
> }
> 
> ...
> 
> during serialization check if type has a toSerial and call that instead 
> of serialized directly, in this case uuid will be written instead of the 
> class contents. the actual class contents will be serialized else where
> ```

Okay so the class is memorized (somehow, doesn't matter).

You have the ability to access and reflect upon the class at compile time.

Why not use a static method instead?

```d
class C {
	...

	static C fromSerial(int i) {
		C self = ...; // lookup i for C
		return self;
	}
}
```