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digitalmars.D.learn - Why an abstract pointer cannot be used as value in an associate array?

reply Cheng Wei <rivercheng gmail.com> writes:
extern(C) {
    struct ab;
}

ab*[int] map;

void main() {
    map.clear();
}


Cannot be compiled. Why?

Thanks.
Sep 28 2011
next sibling parent reply bearophile <bearophileHUGS lycos.com> writes:
Cheng Wei:

 extern(C) {
     struct ab;
 }
 
 ab*[int] map;
 
 void main() {
     map.clear();
 }
 
 
 Cannot be compiled. Why?
It's not specific of associative arrays: extern(C) { struct AB; } AB*[] arr; void main() { arr.length += 1; } Bye, bearophile
Sep 28 2011
parent travert phare.normalesup.org (Christophe) writes:
what is the error message ?
Sep 29 2011
prev sibling parent reply Trass3r <un known.com> writes:
Am 29.09.2011, 06:51 Uhr, schrieb Cheng Wei <rivercheng gmail.com>:

 extern(C) {
     struct ab;
 }

 ab*[int] map;

 void main() {
     map.clear();
 }


 Cannot be compiled. Why?

 Thanks.
Just use void* for opaque pointers in D.
Sep 29 2011
next sibling parent reply Timon Gehr <timon.gehr gmx.ch> writes:
On 09/29/2011 01:28 PM, Trass3r wrote:
 Am 29.09.2011, 06:51 Uhr, schrieb Cheng Wei <rivercheng gmail.com>:

 extern(C) {
 struct ab;
 }

 ab*[int] map;

 void main() {
 map.clear();
 }


 Cannot be compiled. Why?

 Thanks.
Just use void* for opaque pointers in D.
Or an empty struct. struct ab{}
Sep 29 2011
parent reply Cheng Wei <rivercheng gmail.com> writes:
Thanks a lot. This solves the problem.

However, it breaks the abstractness. Now in D side, we can call
auto v = ab(). This does not make sense, because then &v cannot be used
in the C library.

I don't understand why when we manipulate AB*, D compiler needs to know
the size of struct ab. Moreover, when we use AB*[int], the D compiler
complains about there's no opHash defined for AB. I don't think they are
necessary at all.
Sep 29 2011
parent travert phare.normalesup.org (Christophe) writes:
Cheng Wei , dans le message (digitalmars.D.learn:29865), a écrit :
 Thanks a lot. This solves the problem.
 
 However, it breaks the abstractness. Now in D side, we can call
 auto v = ab(). This does not make sense, because then &v cannot be used
 in the C library.
 
 I don't understand why when we manipulate AB*, D compiler needs to know
 the size of struct ab. Moreover, when we use AB*[int], the D compiler
 complains about there's no opHash defined for AB. I don't think they are
 necessary at all.
I guess D is not designed to use abstract classes because they are not needed in the language: the compiler reads all the symbols in the file before doing the real compilation, but there may be no real issue for the compiler, as long as you do not use the ab* for anything else than passing it to C code. You could file an enhancement request to support abstract pointer for the sake of interoperability with C. -- Christophe
Sep 30 2011
prev sibling parent Cheng Wei <rivercheng gmail.com> writes:
The problem is that the void* cannot convert back to AB* when we want to
use it in c library.

Just don't understand why the cast(AB*)p (p is void *) needs to know the
size of AB. Is there any unsafe cast which can blindly cast the
pointers?
Sep 29 2011