• Sean Kelly <sean f4.ca> Jan 17 2008
• Robert Fraser <fraserofthenight gmail.com> Jan 17 2008
• Sean Kelly <sean f4.ca> Jan 17 2008
• Robert Fraser <fraserofthenight gmail.com> Jan 17 2008
• Sean Kelly <sean f4.ca> Jan 18 2008
• "Steven Schveighoffer" <schveiguy yahoo.com> Jan 18 2008

Sean Kelly <sean f4.ca> writes:

I know this issue has been discussed to death, but I'd like to once
again question the rationale behind changing the meaning of the 'const'
keyword between 1.0 and 2.0, given that the choice of keywords for const
features in 2.0 seems completely arbitrary.

In D 1.0, 'const' is essentially the same as 'invariant' in D 2.0.  It's
true that 'const' works just as well for the average situation in D 2.0,
but what if I have a ton of constants in a D 1.0 library that I want to
work the same way in D 2.0?  ie. in D 1.0 the 'const' label means I can
use the value without synchronization for multithreaded programming,
etc.  In D 2.0, this role is filled by 'invariant' and 'const' has been
weakened to mean "read-only view," which is not at all the same thing.

I suppose what I'm asking is how I should go about making a library
maximally cross-compatible with D 1.0 and 2.0, given the changed meaning
of 'const'?


Sean

Robert Fraser <fraserofthenight gmail.com> writes:

Sean Kelly wrote:
 I know this issue has been discussed to death, but I'd like to once
 again question the rationale behind changing the meaning of the 'const'
 keyword between 1.0 and 2.0, given that the choice of keywords for const
 features in 2.0 seems completely arbitrary.
 
 In D 1.0, 'const' is essentially the same as 'invariant' in D 2.0.  It's
 true that 'const' works just as well for the average situation in D 2.0,
 but what if I have a ton of constants in a D 1.0 library that I want to
 work the same way in D 2.0?  ie. in D 1.0 the 'const' label means I can
 use the value without synchronization for multithreaded programming,
 etc.  In D 2.0, this role is filled by 'invariant' and 'const' has been
 weakened to mean "read-only view," which is not at all the same thing.
 
 I suppose what I'm asking is how I should go about making a library
 maximally cross-compatible with D 1.0 and 2.0, given the changed meaning
 of 'const'?
 
 
 Sean


Mixins.

Sean Kelly <sean f4.ca> writes:

Robert Fraser wrote:
 Sean Kelly wrote:
 I know this issue has been discussed to death, but I'd like to once
 again question the rationale behind changing the meaning of the 'const'
 keyword between 1.0 and 2.0, given that the choice of keywords for const
 features in 2.0 seems completely arbitrary.

 In D 1.0, 'const' is essentially the same as 'invariant' in D 2.0.  It's
 true that 'const' works just as well for the average situation in D 2.0,
 but what if I have a ton of constants in a D 1.0 library that I want to
 work the same way in D 2.0?  ie. in D 1.0 the 'const' label means I can
 use the value without synchronization for multithreaded programming,
 etc.  In D 2.0, this role is filled by 'invariant' and 'const' has been
 weakened to mean "read-only view," which is not at all the same thing.

 I suppose what I'm asking is how I should go about making a library
 maximally cross-compatible with D 1.0 and 2.0, given the changed meaning
 of 'const'?


 Mixins.


That suggests I should do something like this:

    mixin("const") i = 5;

But as far as I know, string mixins must be expressions or complete
statements.  How would I declare a series of const values using mixins?


Sean

Robert Fraser <fraserofthenight gmail.com> writes:

Sean Kelly wrote:
 Robert Fraser wrote:
 Sean Kelly wrote:
 I know this issue has been discussed to death, but I'd like to once
 again question the rationale behind changing the meaning of the 'const'
 keyword between 1.0 and 2.0, given that the choice of keywords for const
 features in 2.0 seems completely arbitrary.

 In D 1.0, 'const' is essentially the same as 'invariant' in D 2.0.  It's
 true that 'const' works just as well for the average situation in D 2.0,
 but what if I have a ton of constants in a D 1.0 library that I want to
 work the same way in D 2.0?  ie. in D 1.0 the 'const' label means I can
 use the value without synchronization for multithreaded programming,
 etc.  In D 2.0, this role is filled by 'invariant' and 'const' has been
 weakened to mean "read-only view," which is not at all the same thing.

 I suppose what I'm asking is how I should go about making a library
 maximally cross-compatible with D 1.0 and 2.0, given the changed meaning
 of 'const'?




 That suggests I should do something like this:
 
     mixin("const") i = 5;
 
 But as far as I know, string mixins must be expressions or complete
 statements.  How would I declare a series of const values using mixins?
 
 
 Sean


I was half-kidding since it would probably be a terrible solution. I was 
thinking something like:

char[] constant(char[] declaration)
{
     version(D_Version_2)
         return "invariant " ~ declaration ~ ";";
     else
         return "const " ~ declaration ~ ";";
}

mixin(constant("i = 5"));

But I agree that the names should be changed.

Sean Kelly <sean f4.ca> writes:

Robert Fraser wrote:
 Sean Kelly wrote:
 Robert Fraser wrote:
 Sean Kelly wrote:
 I know this issue has been discussed to death, but I'd like to once
 again question the rationale behind changing the meaning of the 'const'
 keyword between 1.0 and 2.0, given that the choice of keywords for
 const
 features in 2.0 seems completely arbitrary.

 In D 1.0, 'const' is essentially the same as 'invariant' in D 2.0. 
 It's
 true that 'const' works just as well for the average situation in D
 2.0,
 but what if I have a ton of constants in a D 1.0 library that I want to
 work the same way in D 2.0?  ie. in D 1.0 the 'const' label means I can
 use the value without synchronization for multithreaded programming,
 etc.  In D 2.0, this role is filled by 'invariant' and 'const' has been
 weakened to mean "read-only view," which is not at all the same thing.

 I suppose what I'm asking is how I should go about making a library
 maximally cross-compatible with D 1.0 and 2.0, given the changed
 meaning
 of 'const'?




 That suggests I should do something like this:

     mixin("const") i = 5;

 But as far as I know, string mixins must be expressions or complete
 statements.  How would I declare a series of const values using mixins?


 Sean


 I was half-kidding since it would probably be a terrible solution. I was
 thinking something like:
 
 char[] constant(char[] declaration)
 {
     version(D_Version_2)
         return "invariant " ~ declaration ~ ";";
     else
         return "const " ~ declaration ~ ";";
 }
 
 mixin(constant("i = 5"));


Yeah, it would be pretty terrible :-)  But it'd do the trick in a pinch.
 I posted my message half out of frustration and half fishing for the
cleanest way to do this in case we're stuck with things as they are.


Sean

"Steven Schveighoffer" <schveiguy yahoo.com> writes:

"Sean Kelly" wrote
 Robert Fraser wrote:
 Sean Kelly wrote:
 Robert Fraser wrote:
 Sean Kelly wrote:
 I know this issue has been discussed to death, but I'd like to once
 again question the rationale behind changing the meaning of the 
 'const'
 keyword between 1.0 and 2.0, given that the choice of keywords for
 const
 features in 2.0 seems completely arbitrary.

 In D 1.0, 'const' is essentially the same as 'invariant' in D 2.0.
 It's
 true that 'const' works just as well for the average situation in D
 2.0,
 but what if I have a ton of constants in a D 1.0 library that I want 
 to
 work the same way in D 2.0?  ie. in D 1.0 the 'const' label means I 
 can
 use the value without synchronization for multithreaded programming,
 etc.  In D 2.0, this role is filled by 'invariant' and 'const' has 
 been
 weakened to mean "read-only view," which is not at all the same thing.

 I suppose what I'm asking is how I should go about making a library
 maximally cross-compatible with D 1.0 and 2.0, given the changed
 meaning
 of 'const'?




 That suggests I should do something like this:

     mixin("const") i = 5;

 But as far as I know, string mixins must be expressions or complete
 statements.  How would I declare a series of const values using mixins?


 Sean


 I was half-kidding since it would probably be a terrible solution. I was
 thinking something like:

 char[] constant(char[] declaration)
 {
     version(D_Version_2)
         return "invariant " ~ declaration ~ ";";
     else
         return "const " ~ declaration ~ ";";
 }

 mixin(constant("i = 5"));


 Yeah, it would be pretty terrible :-)  But it'd do the trick in a pinch.
 I posted my message half out of frustration and half fishing for the
 cleanest way to do this in case we're stuck with things as they are.


 Sean


I know it's ugly, but for integral constants, you should be able to use enum 
consistently:

enum
{
  i = 5,
  ...
}

-Steve