• James Dunne <jdunne4 bradley.edu> Dec 01 2004
• Chris Sauls <Chris_member pathlink.com> Dec 01 2004
• James Dunne <jdunne4 bradley.edu> Dec 05 2004

So apparently the with() construct is only for classes?

That's kinda ... yeah.  Minor fix before 1.0 I'd say.

I'd like to use it with structs and struct pointers if at all possible.
It'd sure clean up a lot of my database code here.

1 more thing, toString() in std.string should be renamed since it conflicts with
Object.toString() when you're trying to use it in a class.  referring to it as
std.string.toString(char *) makes it a little cumbersome to use.  Yes, I'm aware
of aliases, and I'll use that to absolve the issue in my own code for now, but I
think it should be given some consideration.

Overall, I still think D is a great language :)  Keep up the great work Walter
and everyone else who's taken the time to share their opinions.

Regards,
James Dunne

In article <cols64$19jl$1 digitaldaemon.com>, James Dunne says...
So apparently the with() construct is only for classes?


Last time I checked (about two minutes ago) with() works equally well with
structs as with classes.  I'm betting you've tried something like:

#  struct S { ... }
#  S* ptr;
#  ...
#  with (ptr) { ... }

This will give you an error saying that "with is for Classes, not S*" which is
an outdated and misleading error message, as with() /was/ once only for classes
but has since been expanded to include structs.  So Walter, you need to update
that error message.  Meanwhile, you can fix your with() statement by changing it
to:

#  with (*ptr) { ... }

See that asterisk?  You need to dereferance the pointer for with().  I would
think it might be automatic, but... its not.

-- Chris Sauls

In article <com4hg$1jki$1 digitaldaemon.com>, Chris Sauls says...
In article <cols64$19jl$1 digitaldaemon.com>, James Dunne says...
So apparently the with() construct is only for classes?


Last time I checked (about two minutes ago) with() works equally well with
structs as with classes.  I'm betting you've tried something like:

#  struct S { ... }
#  S* ptr;
#  ...
#  with (ptr) { ... }

This will give you an error saying that "with is for Classes, not S*" which is
an outdated and misleading error message, as with() /was/ once only for classes
but has since been expanded to include structs.  So Walter, you need to update
that error message.  Meanwhile, you can fix your with() statement by changing it
to:

#  with (*ptr) { ... }

See that asterisk?  You need to dereferance the pointer for with().  I would
think it might be automatic, but... its not.

-- Chris Sauls


I see what you're saying Chris, and thanks for your reply.  Yes the error is
slightly misleading and should be changed.  However, when the . operator
automatically dereferences fields from a struct pointer as well as a normal
struct, it should be commonplace to assume that the with () construct should do
the same, just in block format.

Regards,
James Dunne