Max Samukha wrote:
On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:28:51 -0500, Andrei Alexandrescu
<seewebsiteforem...@erdani.org> wrote:
Associative arrays are today quite problematic because they don't offer
any true iteration. Furthermore, the .keys and .values properties create
new arrays, which is wasteful.
Another issue with associative arrays is that ++a[k] is hacked, which
reflects a grave language limitation. That needs to be replaced with a
true facility.
Any other issues with AAs that you want to see fixed, and ideas guiding
a redesign?
Thanks,
Andrei
They should be true reference types. Now we have oddities like this:
int[int] a;
auto b = a;
a[1] = 2;
assert(b[1] == 2); // Range violation
int[int] a;
a[1] = 2;
auto b = a;
a[2] = 3;
assert(b[2] == 3); // Ok
That's because the actual AA is allocated on demand (when you add the
first element). The new array type T[new] is going to have the same
"problem".
I like it, because if you don't need it, it doesn't allocate memory. Of
course it's possible that the complication in semantics isn't it worth.
But D is still a systems programming language with a *very* bad GC,
which is why I think it should continue to work this way.
