On 2/10/16 11:01 PM, Chris Wright wrote:
On Wed, 10 Feb 2016 22:39:20 -0500, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
I think casting a mutable array to any array type is a recipe for memory
issues, no matter what is in the elements. Remember that you are casting
a reference that still has a mutable pointer to it.
@safe should start from a very cautious and overtightened state, and
then we loosen it as we find issues.
As it was done, it has holes, and so when we fix things, code breaks.
I agree with the principle, but it's always safe to read a pointer as if
it were not a pointer, and that's what a cast to an immutable array would
do.
A cast to immutable is a guarantee to the compiler that there is no
other mutable references that you will use again.
This is not the case here.
A cast to const may be viable. However, I think casting in safe code is
probably not something to allow. If you need to make something work
outside the compiler's comfort zone, there's always @trusted.
-Steve
