On 4/17/2016 2:29 AM, WebFreak001 wrote:
It's annoying to fix all these `int index = str.indexOf("something")` to
size_t/ptrdiff_t because you started writing the code thinking that indexOf
returns an integer even though it returns a ptrdiff_t. When porting code from
32bit to 64bit you need to fix all these lines which can quickly become quite
complex from functions where you don't expect them to return size_t or ptrdiff_t
Adding a warning when trying to do something like `int i =
funcReturningPtrdiff();` would make porting easier because you would already
spot the issues on the OS/architecture you are working on. This also affects
porting windows to linux as DMD on windows uses 32bit by default and on linux it
uses the architecture you downloaded as default.
Making weird special cases usually winds up having unintended bad consequences
in the future, leading to ever more special cases and complexity.
Some solutions you can use:
1. size_t index = str.indexOf("something")
2. auto index = str.indexOf("something")
3. compile for 64 bits as the default
4. regularly compile for 32 and 64 bits
My experience is that over time one gets used to writing 32/64 bit portable code
naturally, and the minor irritations don't happen anymore. D isn't a language
that tries to hide the differences, and one should be aware of them.
