On Wednesday, April 16, 2025 8:48:04 AM MDT H. S. Teoh via Digitalmars-d-learn wrote: > On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 04:23:43AM +0000, Andy Valencia via > Digitalmars-d-learn wrote: > > On Wednesday, 16 April 2025 at 01:44:33 UTC, Paul Backus wrote: > > > Nope, you're not missing anything. Using pointers is totally normal > > > and idiomatic in D. > > > > That said, I try to code under @safe when I can, and let the compiler > > guide me clear of a whole class of C-type potential bugs. > [...] > > Pointers can be used perfectly fine in @safe. Just not unsafe operations > like pointer arithmetic.
Also, taking the address of stuff like local variables is @system, because it's not safe if the pointer escapes. But yeah, in general, using pointers is @safe outside of pointer arithmetic. At that point, there isn't much difference between a pointer and a reference. They just point to an object. It's escaping which is potentially a problem (which ref is stricter about) and pointer arithmetic (which can't be done with ref). Basically, as long as what you're doing with a pointer is what can be done with a reference, then it's @safe. - Jonathan M Davis
