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digitalmars.D.learn - implicit casts

reply Ender KaShae <astrothayne gmail.com> writes:
there should be some way to define implicit casts either to or from user
defined types.  this would greatly reduce the amount of code since functions
would no longer have to be overloaded for as many times. ex: a fraction class
does not need to overload opAdd since integers can be implictly converted to
fractions.
Jul 20 2007
next sibling parent BCS <ao pathlink.com> writes:
Reply to Ender,

 there should be some way to define implicit casts either to or from
 user defined types.  this would greatly reduce the amount of code
 since functions would no longer have to be overloaded for as many
 times. ex: a fraction class does not need to overload opAdd since
 integers can be implictly converted to fractions.
 
this would also simplify some things like what is described here: http://andersnoras.com/blogs/anoras/archive/2007/07/09/behind-the-scenes-of-the-planning-dsl.aspx things like this would be really slick |class EventComponent |{ | class Attend | { | Attend AreRequired(){ ... return this; } | Attend AreOptional(){ ... return this; } | | EventComponent opImplicitCast(){return super;} // this | } | | static EventComponent opImplicitCast(Attendants f){return f.super;} // or this | | Attendants{char[][] names...) | { | return new Attend(names); | } |} | |EventComponent e = new EventComponent(); |e.Attendants("joe", "jane").AreRequired.Attendants("bob", "bill").AreOptional;
Jul 20 2007
prev sibling parent reply janderson <askme me.com> writes:
Ender KaShae wrote:
 there should be some way to define implicit casts either to or from user
defined types.  this would greatly reduce the amount of code since functions
would no longer have to be overloaded for as many times. ex: a fraction class
does not need to overload opAdd since integers can be implictly converted to
fractions.
C++ has the copy constructor. Perhaps it should be something along those lines. Although the C++ copy constructor is fraught with problems because you never know when a conversion may occur. -Joel
Jul 21 2007
parent James Dennett <jdennett acm.org> writes:
janderson wrote:
 Ender KaShae wrote:
 there should be some way to define implicit casts either to or from
 user defined types.  this would greatly reduce the amount of code
 since functions would no longer have to be overloaded for as many
 times. ex: a fraction class does not need to overload opAdd since
 integers can be implictly converted to fractions.
C++ has the copy constructor. Perhaps it should be something along those lines. Although the C++ copy constructor is fraught with problems because you never know when a conversion may occur.
C++ _copy_ constructors are used for copying, not converting. Other constructors in C++ are declared "explicit" to disallow the compiler from using them for implicit conversions, i.e., they'll only be used if explicitly requested by code. -- James
Jul 21 2007