On Sunday, 16 May 2021 at 15:12:25 UTC, Nick wrote:
Is this warning still valid?
The @property thing doesn't do much. All it does is change typeof(a.prop) from function over to the return value of the function. (Which actually makes it required for the range empty and front things!)
But since it doesn't do much it makes it very easy to misuse it too - putting it somewhere where it doesn't belong will NOT cause the compiler to issue an error.
So that's why it is warned: the current behavior is extremely minimal and if that expands and you misused it, you'll see broken code down the line.
But on the other hand, @property has been a do-nothing for a decade now, so I wouldn't expect that to change any time soon.
My general rule is to put it on something that should be replaceable with a public data member. If you can't do that, don't make it @property. In particular, do NOT put it on something for the sole reason of not using () on the call. @property is not really related to parenthesis syntax. Only use it when it is specifically meant to be replaceable with a public member.
