On Friday, 28 June 2013 at 22:29:21 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
On 6/27/2013 5:34 PM, JS wrote:
Would it be possible for a language(specifically d) to have
the ability to
automatically type a variable by looking at its use cases
without adding too
much complexity? It seems to me that most compilers already
can infer type
mismatchs which would allow them to handle stuff like:
main()
{
auto x;
auto y;
x = 3; // x is an int, same as auto x = 3;
y = f(); // y is the same type as what f() returns
x = 3.9; // x is really a float, no mismatch with previous
type(int)
}
in this case x and y's type is inferred from future use. The
compiler
essentially just lazily infers the variable type. Obviously
ambiguity will
generate an error.
I don't see a compelling use case for this proposal, or even
any use case. There'd have to be some serious advantage to it
to justify its complexity.
My thoughts too. It's a lot of work for a very minor (and perhaps
rather unwise) convenience.
