3 ms·

Having to use .array() on the Result of some functions is the exact same problem I've ran into as well! D is by far my favorite language but there is definitel

Having to use .array() on the Result of some functions is the exact same problem I've ran into as well! D is by far my favorite language but there is definitely some room for improvement in terms of documentation on how to use the standard library.

jordigh 7y ago
It's not the best idea to always unconditionally use .array because you might want to preserve the laziness of a Result type. By using .array you're saying you want all of the results into memory right now! Depending on what you're doing, you might not want that.
- abaga129 7y ago
  I actually didn't know this! Very cool. I guess it's similar to calling .ToList() on IEnumerable<T> in C#.
  - p0nce 7y ago
    Most range function return a "Voldemort" that preserve lazyness if you put it in an `auto` local. Or you can use .array to get a slice out of it.
anaphor 7y ago
On the other hand, I like the explicitness of it instead of automatically converting to a different type. At least you know exactly what it's doing. The python version of it would be calling `list()` on things all the time, which you might not always want to do.
- abaga129 7y ago
  That's a fair point. I'm not necessarily against having to do it, I just would like there to be a more obvious indication of how to convert the result to an array. It took a lot of searching the first time I came across this. Perhaps it's just my own incompetence though!
  - anaphor 7y ago
    It's definitely not your incompetence. I started learning D a few months ago and it didn't click until someone on IRC explained it clearly to me. It's not in the tutorial or anything unless I missed it.
    - he_the_great 7y ago
      It is the first thing I added to my articles when I introduced range based operations : https://dev.to/jessekphillips/count-of-a-list-in-d-49k4 https://dev.to/jessekphillips/count-of-a-list-in-d-49k4

3 ms·

Having to use .array() on the Result of some functions is the exact same problem I've ran into as well! D is by far my favorite language but there is definitel

by abaga129 7y ago

jordigh 7y ago
It's not the best idea to always unconditionally use .array because you might want to preserve the laziness of a Result type. By using .array you're saying you want all of the results into memory right now! Depending on what you're doing, you might not want that.
- abaga129 7y ago
  I actually didn't know this! Very cool. I guess it's similar to calling .ToList() on IEnumerable<T> in C#.
  - p0nce 7y ago
    Most range function return a "Voldemort" that preserve lazyness if you put it in an `auto` local. Or you can use .array to get a slice out of it.
anaphor 7y ago
On the other hand, I like the explicitness of it instead of automatically converting to a different type. At least you know exactly what it's doing. The python version of it would be calling `list()` on things all the time, which you might not always want to do.
- abaga129 7y ago
  That's a fair point. I'm not necessarily against having to do it, I just would like there to be a more obvious indication of how to convert the result to an array. It took a lot of searching the first time I came across this. Perhaps it's just my own incompetence though!
  - anaphor 7y ago
    It's definitely not your incompetence. I started learning D a few months ago and it didn't click until someone on IRC explained it clearly to me. It's not in the tutorial or anything unless I missed it.
    - he_the_great 7y ago
      It is the first thing I added to my articles when I introduced range based operations : https://dev.to/jessekphillips/count-of-a-list-in-d-49k4 https://dev.to/jessekphillips/count-of-a-list-in-d-49k4