On Monday, 9 April 2018 at 15:30:33 UTC, Stefan Koch wrote:
[snip]
Using templates to introspect and manipulate types is like
using a hammmer's flat back to remove a nail.
It _can_ be done but with an absurd amount of work.
You just have to remove all of the wall around the nail by
pounding it until the wall has around the nail is disintegrated
:)
This is not an exaggeration.
Templates used for introspection (or anything else really
that's modestly complex) are equally hard to reason about for
compilers and for programmers. I guess programmers have an
advantage when it comes to _efficient_ pattern recognition.
Could AST macros replace things like @safe/@nogc and enable the
user to create their own (like a @supersafe that disallows
@trusted)?
