On Tue, Nov 06, 2012 at 05:18:18AM +0100, Tommi wrote: > I don't think this whole issue has anything to do with ranges. I > think this is an issue of assuming that the symbol = means "copy > what's on the right to what's on the left". When in reality, = could > mean: (if what's on the right has reference semantics) "make what's > on the left reference the same thing that the thing on the right > references". > > I think all range types should be allowed to return whatever they > want from their front property. It's the responsibility of the user > of the range to *actually* copy what front returns (if that's what > he intends), instead of assuming that = means copy. [...]
The problem is that you can't do this in generic code, because generic code by definition doesn't know how to copy an arbitrary type. Unless we introduce a standardized deep copy operation to D, like a .clone method that all copyable types implement, this solution isn't really viable. T -- The computer is only a tool. Unfortunately, so is the user. -- Armaphine, K5
