On Tuesday, 15 April 2025 at 21:06:30 UTC, WhatMeWorry wrote:
I had assumed that ref keyword negated the use of * and &
operators but when I try to use it, DMD is saying "only
parameters, functions and `foreach` declarations can be `ref`".
Fair enough. I thought that the * and & operator was for when
interfacing with C/C++ code. Since this is entirely in D code,
I thought there might be other options.
These are accurate observations! As you know, classes can be more
practical in the programming world. Have you also tried looking
at the topic from the following perspective?
```d
class S
{
char c;
float f;
override string toString()
=> text(i"[c = $(c), f = $(f)]");
}
import std.conv, std.stdio;
void main()
{
S[int] aa; // int -> S as an associative array (not by
address but by direct reference)
auto u = new S();
u.c = 'a';
u.f = 1.33;
aa[0] = u;
auto v = new S();
v.c = 'z';
v.f = 3.14;
aa[1] = v;
aa.writeln;
S d = aa[0];
d.writeln;
d = null; // d no longer points to the object, but aa[0]
still does
// let's change the u object:
u.c ^= ' '; // magic!
u.f *= 3;
assert(d is null);
d = aa[0];
d.writeln;
assert(d is null);
aa.writeln;
} /* Prints:
[0:[c = a, f = 1.33], 1:[c = z, f = 3.14]]
[c = a, f = 1.33]
[c = A, f = 3.99]
[0:[c = A, f = 3.99], 1:[c = z, f = 3.14]]
//*/
```
SDB@79
