Can someone tell me what the compiler thought I was trying to do?

[WhatMeWorry via Digitalmars-d-learn]

I lost about a half an hour troubleshooting some code of mine 
which as it turned out to be resolved with just one line.


// paths.remove(i);   // compiles fine but does nothing

paths = paths.remove(i);  // works - what I erroneously thought 
the previous line was doing

Is the first line nonsensical and should the compiler have at 
least issued a warning?