Language design discussions

D is an evolving and complex language. New features are proposed, unexpected interaction in old ones get found, design issues are raised. All this may involve hard debates in D newsgroup and if often forgotten. This page serves as an index for major design discussions and proposals.

Formal improvement proposals can be found on the main DIP index.

Properties

Description

Initial @property design has issues. How can it be changed or even discarded at all?

Thread

• Initial discussion where this topic has rised
• Walters follow-up with proposal to kill property, most info here

Essential moments

Property Discussion Wrap-up

Proposals

• Property Discussion Proposal 1
• DIP21

Access specifiers and symbol visibility

Description

Currently there is feature like "static global" in C or "unnamed namespace" in C++. Access specifiers for module-level symbols control access, not visibility. Ability to hide symbols needs to be added without breaking current access system.

As a result of discussion, Walter has asked for DIP on this topic.

Essential moments

• Walter's final resolution about topics to cover in DIP

Thread

• Initial thread that has raised this topic
• Follow-up about current state of affairs
• Access specifiers and visibility - combined data to make a decision upon

Proposal

DIP22

auto ref

Thread

• auto ref - again

Built-in associative array issues

Description

Present AA implementation has lot of problems and most likely needs to be reworked. AA_Implementation_Issues