On Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:37:50 -0400, Walter Bright <newshound2@digitalmars.com> wrote:

On 4/12/2013 5:52 AM, Manu wrote:

Just to be clear, I'm not arguing optimisation for performance here, I'm arguing
intolerance for __unnecessary__ allocations as a policy, or at least a habit.
There's a whole separate thread on the topic of fighting unnecessary garbage,
and having the ability to use D with strict control over the GC and/or
allocation in general.

If std functions have no reason to allocate, why should they?

Absolutely right. All phobos functions should not allocate unless absolutely necessary.

Define "absolutely."  For example, there was an objection to accepting an AA as an "environment" map to std.process.spawnX functions because even though reading the AA would not require allocation, allocation would certainly be required to build the AA.  Is that acceptable?  Certainly we could invent a new non-allocating map type and accept that instead.

I think we need clearer lines drawn here, if they are to be respected.