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const issues and more!
Jan 14, 2008
Neil Vice
Jan 14, 2008
Matti Niemenmaa
Jan 14, 2008
Neil Vice
Jan 14, 2008
Matti Niemenmaa
Jan 14, 2008
Yigal Chripun
Jan 14, 2008
Yigal Chripun
Jan 14, 2008
Saaa
Jan 14, 2008
Saaa
Jan 14, 2008
Saaa
Jan 14, 2008
Walter Bright
Jan 14, 2008
Bill Baxter
January 14, 2008
I've been experimenting with const et. al. in 2.009 and have encountered some snags which I'll log here. It is quite likely that some of these issues are unrelated to the recent const changes or are things I have misunderstood and I will appreciate any feedback.

Firstly the following simple initialiser fails to compile:

    char[] text = "text";

As far as I can tell there is no way to declare and initialise an array in a single line of code or even copy an array in a single line once declared. The only way I'm aware of to copy an array is as follows:

    char[] text;
    text.length = "text".length;
    text[] = "text";

Given this, is it possible to declare a const string? toString() cannot even be called on a const variable!

It would appear that constness can be implicitly cast away through the use of a foreach loop as in the following:

    const char[] test;
    foreach(char c; test)
    {
        c = 'x';
    }

Note that c is not even declared ref.

DMD crashes when a method is called which takes a "ref const" parameter e.g.:

    void test(ref const char c) { }
    void main()
    {
        char c;
        test(c);
    }

This of course begs the question: what exactly is a ref const?

Also, the reason I discovered all of this is that I was attempting to implement a collection type. I defined a regular opApply method which worked fine on non-const instances. Declaring opApply to be a const method allows it to curiously work for both const and non-const instances in order to gain access to const and non-const members of the collection as described above.

I've struggled to correctly implement a const opApply at all, and when opApply is overloaded to have a const and a non-const definition, it is then impossible to use the foreach syntax that detects the member type for you.

All-in-all, attempting to write a collection class that works (specifically foreach/opApply) for both const and non-const instances has been frustratingly awkward if not impossible with DMD 2.009.

Reassurances that my dreams of D being a great programming language have not been shattered are welcome =)


January 14, 2008
Neil Vice wrote:
> I've been experimenting with const et. al. in 2.009 and have encountered some snags which I'll log here. It is quite likely that some of these issues are unrelated to the recent const changes or are things I have misunderstood and I will appreciate any feedback.

I'm only proficient in 1.0 and thus not very up-to-date with the current const situation, but I'll answer what I do (think I) know.

> Firstly the following simple initialiser fails to compile:
> 
>     char[] text = "text";
> 
> As far as I can tell there is no way to declare and initialise an array in a single line of code or even copy an array in a single line once declared. The only way I'm aware of to copy an array is as follows:
> 
>     char[] text;
>     text.length = "text".length;
>     text[] = "text";

How about:

char[] text = "text".dup;

.dup creates a mutable copy. There's also .idup, for an immutable copy, but I don't know its semantics.

<snip>
> It would appear that constness can be implicitly cast away through the use of a foreach loop as in the following:
> 
>     const char[] test;
>     foreach(char c; test)
>     {
>         c = 'x';
>     }
> 
> Note that c is not even declared ref.

I guess this is the same thing as doing the following:

const int y;
foo(y);

void foo(int n) {
	n = n+1;
}

I.e. since you don't have ref, it's just a copy of the value which is modified. You'll note that the original test array is unmodified even if it's not const:

char[] foo = "foo";
foreach (c; foo)
	c = 'x';
assert (foo == "foo"); // passes

> DMD crashes when a method is called which takes a "ref const" parameter e.g.:
> 
>     void test(ref const char c) { }
>     void main()
>     {
>         char c;
>         test(c);
>     }
> 
> This of course begs the question: what exactly is a ref const?

If DMD crashes and this isn't in the Bugzilla, file the bug.

If 'ref const' does work it's probably one or the other. DMD has a habit of accepting contradictory attributes:

public private protected int x; // quiz: what is the protection level of x?

<snip>
> Reassurances that my dreams of D being a great programming language have not been shattered are welcome =) 

Use 1.0 and live happily, waiting for the const stuff to be finalized. ;-)

-- 
E-mail address: matti.niemenmaa+news, domain is iki (DOT) fi
January 14, 2008
Thanks for the reply.

> How about:
>
> char[] text = "text".dup;
>
> .dup creates a mutable copy. There's also .idup, for an immutable copy, but I don't know its semantics.

You are of course correct, however it seems a tad unnecessarily verbose IMHO.

> I guess this is the same thing as doing the following:
>
> const int y;
> foo(y);
>
> void foo(int n) {
> n = n+1;
> }
>
> I.e. since you don't have ref, it's just a copy of the value which is modified. You'll note that the original test array is unmodified even if it's not const:
>
> char[] foo = "foo";
> foreach (c; foo)
> c = 'x';
> assert (foo == "foo"); // passes

I had overlooked that. I don't see the utility of having a modifiable local copy however and it strikes me as a litle confusing and error-prone. I would expect that the common case is to want a const reference, which ends up being the most verbose declaration unfortunately.

> If DMD crashes and this isn't in the Bugzilla, file the bug.

It would appear the bug has indeed been filed (several times =P).

> If 'ref const' does work it's probably one or the other. DMD has a habit of accepting contradictory attributes:

From browsing other posts I get the impression that it is a way of passing structs as readonly refernces, however I would have expected just const to function the same.

> public private protected int x; // quiz: what is the protection level of x?

My guess would be protected but the fact that it compiles seems ridiculous.

> Use 1.0 and live happily, waiting for the const stuff to be finalized. ;-)

I may have to do just that but I do love my const =)


January 14, 2008
Neil Vice wrote:
>> How about:
>>
>> char[] text = "text".dup;
>>
>> .dup creates a mutable copy. There's also .idup, for an immutable copy, but I don't know its semantics.
> 
> You are of course correct, however it seems a tad unnecessarily verbose IMHO.

The advantage lies in optimization, as it's (more?) common to not want to modify a string literal, but only to output it or a part of it. I don't find it that verbose, but I don't think I've ever used it in code other than such examples. :-P

>> char[] foo = "foo";
>> foreach (c; foo)
>> c = 'x';
>> assert (foo == "foo"); // passes
> 
> I had overlooked that. I don't see the utility of having a modifiable local copy however and it strikes me as a litle confusing and error-prone. I would expect that the common case is to want a const reference, which ends up being the most verbose declaration unfortunately.

Yep. A while back ( http://www.digitalmars.com/webnews/newsgroups.php?art_group=digitalmars.D&article_id=54361 ) practically everybody wanted to try const by default on function parameters (by extension, it should probably apply to foreach as well though I don't think it was discussed). We got no response from Walter though and it doesn't seem like it'll happen.

Regarding 'most verbose', 'in' should still work for the parameter case, unless I've missed something:

void foo(in int n) {
	n = n+1; // error, n is "const scope"
}

"in" used to mean "final const scope": IIRC "final" has been dropped but the other two remain. I may be wrong due to not having coded with the new const.

>> If 'ref const' does work it's probably one or the other. DMD has a habit of accepting contradictory attributes:
> 
> From browsing other posts I get the impression that it is a way of passing structs as readonly refernces, however I would have expected just const to function the same.

That would make sense, but I don't think it's implemented yet. Once again, I may be wrong, though.

>> public private protected int x; /+ quiz: what is the protection level of x? +/
> 
> My guess would be protected but the fact that it compiles seems ridiculous.

I agree, but not all do. Walter, for one, doesn't, and he's the one that counts. One thing where it admittedly makes sense is in something like:

public:
/+ lots of declarations +/
private int foo;

The declaration of 'foo' wouldn't be allowed if the above were disallowed, since that's the equivalent of writing "public private int foo;".

Although I don't see why writing attributes all together ("public private") can't be treated differently from the style of applying the attribute to all following declarations ("public: private").

-- 
E-mail address: matti.niemenmaa+news, domain is iki (DOT) fi
January 14, 2008
Matti Niemenmaa wrote:

>>> How about:
>>>
>>> char[] text = "text".dup;
>>>
>>> .dup creates a mutable copy. There's also .idup, for an immutable copy, but I don't know its semantics.
>> 
>> You are of course correct, however it seems a tad unnecessarily verbose IMHO.
> 
> The advantage lies in optimization, as it's (more?) common to not want to modify a string literal, but only to output it or a part of it. I don't find it that verbose, but I don't think I've ever used it in code other than such examples. :-P

But wouldn't the expected behavior be to implicitly duplicate the string literal? Or better yet, to never actually allocate memory for the string literal at all, but simply use it to set the initial value of the variable?

-- 
Michiel

January 14, 2008
"Neil Vice" wrote
> I've been experimenting with const et. al. in 2.009 and have encountered some snags which I'll log here. It is quite likely that some of these issues are unrelated to the recent const changes or are things I have misunderstood and I will appreciate any feedback.
>
> Firstly the following simple initialiser fails to compile:
>
>    char[] text = "text";

This is because a string literal is typed as an invariant(char)[].

const(char)[] text = "text";
or
invariant(char)[] text = "text";
or (with phobos)
string text = "text";

should all work.

>
> As far as I can tell there is no way to declare and initialise an array in a single line of code or even copy an array in a single line once declared. The only way I'm aware of to copy an array is as follows:
>
>    char[] text;
>    text.length = "text".length;
>    text[] = "text";

Yeah, as Matti said, you want "text".dup.  There is a good reason for this. A string is an array, which is nothing but a pointer and length.  If you allow the line:

char[] text = "text";

to compile, then you are free to modify the constant "text"!  For example, in D 1.0 this works:

char[] text = "text";
text[0] = 'n';
char[] text2 = "text";
assert(text2 == "next");

These kinds of errors are subtle and hard to find.  This is why you are not allowed to have a non-const or invariant pointer to invariant data such as string literals.

-Steve


January 14, 2008
Michiel Helvensteijn wrote:
> Matti Niemenmaa wrote:
> 
>>>> How about:
>>>>
>>>> char[] text = "text".dup;
>>>>
>>>> .dup creates a mutable copy. There's also .idup, for an immutable copy,
>>>> but I don't know its semantics.
>>> You are of course correct, however it seems a tad unnecessarily verbose
>>> IMHO.
>> The advantage lies in optimization, as it's (more?) common to not want to
>> modify a string literal, but only to output it or a part of it. I don't
>> find it that verbose, but I don't think I've ever used it in code other
>> than such examples. :-P
> 
> But wouldn't the expected behavior be to implicitly duplicate the string
> literal? Or better yet, to never actually allocate memory for the string
> literal at all, but simply use it to set the initial value of the variable?
> 

you're quite right, and on some OSes (Linux) no memory is allocated (on the heap/stack) but rather the value is store in ROM.
however, char[] is an array which means you could have done the following:
char[] a = "abc";
a[1] = 'd';
which would segfault because you're changing something in ROM!
that's why the type of string literals is variant(char)[] or string for short, and the above behavior is disallowed.
January 14, 2008
Yigal Chripun wrote:

>> But wouldn't the expected behavior be to implicitly duplicate the string literal? Or better yet, to never actually allocate memory for the string literal at all, but simply use it to set the initial value of the variable?
> 
> you're quite right, and on some OSes (Linux) no memory is allocated (on
> the heap/stack) but rather the value is store in ROM.
> however, char[] is an array which means you could have done the following:
> char[] a = "abc";
> a[1] = 'd';
> which would segfault because you're changing something in ROM!
> that's why the type of string literals is variant(char)[] or string for
> short, and the above behavior is disallowed.

But wouldn't you want that to work exactly as written?

char[] str = "abc";
a[1] = 'd';
assert(str == "adc");

"abc" here is just the initial value of the mutable variable str. So it should be allocated in the memory pointed to by str.

In other words, an implicit cast should take place, or an implicit duplication should be made.

That it doesn't work like that is, in my opinion, a flaw of the language. D seems to continually get more difficult to use.

-- 
Michiel

January 14, 2008
Neil Vice wrote:
> Firstly the following simple initialiser fails to compile:
> 
>     char[] text = "text";
> 
> As far as I can tell there is no way to declare and initialise an array in a single line of code

	string text = "text";
January 14, 2008
Walter Bright wrote:
> Neil Vice wrote:
>> Firstly the following simple initialiser fails to compile:
>>
>>     char[] text = "text";
>>
>> As far as I can tell there is no way to declare and initialise an array in a single line of code
> 
>     string text = "text";

My intuition is that an implicit dup should happen.
Why?  Well, maybe it's just familiarity with C++?

  std::string text = "hello"; // makes a copy
  text[0] = 'b'; // ok because we have a copy

--bb
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