"Jonathan M Davis" <jmdavisp...@gmail.com> wrote in message news:mailman.38.1283370572.858.digitalmar...@puremagic.com... > > You can think of it a bit like static. Static is used for different things > in > different contexts (even though most contexts are quite similar - IIRC, > there's a > way to define static in C++ which fits all of its uses in C++, though D > adds some > more that don't fit that definitition), but it doesn't really cause any > confusion. > enum is the same way. Sure, from the standpoint of language purity, > manifest > constants shouldn't be declared using enum, but the reality of the matter > is > that it works just fine. >
Static is a little bit better in that the uses of it at least have some connection to the dictionary meaning of "static", even if perhaps a little distant. But there's just no way to stretch the dictionary meaning of "enumeration" to include manifest constants. Like everyone else, I can at least live with it, but I look forward to the day the linker issue is fixed so we can finally mutilate/destroy/kill it, dead, dead, dead with extreme prejudice in favor of immutable. It's a stain - doesn't really cause a problem, but boy is it ever UGLY.
