D Wishlist

[Dave Sill]

The following is a list of the changes that people have said they'd
like to see in D, the hypothetical "improved C".  I'm sure there are
more.  I'm sure we could spend terabytes arguing over the details.
Instead, I suggest sending comments to me for summarization.
Remember, this is comp.lang.c/INFO-C...

There are surprisingly few contradictory wishes.  I plan to describe
each item in more detail; and perhaps include possible syntaxes.


* Better support for multidimensional arrays.

* Make arrays first-class objects.

* Require prototype-style function declarations.

* Better support for objects smaller than a byte.

* Make control statements control something other than single statements.

* Make case selection fallthrough an option, not default.

* Add inline functions.

* Re-evaluate the need for a preprocessor.

* Stop automatic termination of string constants with nul.

* Make "null" a keyword.

* Re-evaluate assignment and logical-equivalence operators

* Stop initializing static variables to 0.

* Require function prototypes to be within scope.

* Add a general aggregate constructor mechanism.

* Make libraries a part of the language.

* Consider some "asm" mechanism versus adding more operators.

* Better support for variadic functions.

* Support operator overloading.

* Remove distinction between expressions and statements.

* Add "pure" functions (output is a function of input, no side effects).

* Better integral types (range determined).

* Add a true Boolean type.

* Clean up declaration syntax.

* Make unions tagged.

* Add case ranges for switch and conditional statements.

* Add an "->" OP= operator.

* Make braces mandatory in control statements.

* Provide a more general macro facility.