On 1 Jun 2009, at 00:37, Tom Lieber wrote:
I think @=> is an unnecessary operator. I like the description from way back that the "@" means "please."
Yes, in C++ syntax, it is natural to write an assignment x = y; for both reference and copy-over data types. Some types classes which can not be copied over, like streams, just prohibit assignment. But it is cumbersome to work with - it is convenient being able to pass a reference around. Then one wants to have a GC - a reference count at least. But then it must be made explicit to the user what type the objects are. Some objects, like files, may be copied over, even though one normally does not want to do it. So there should be a clone operators for objects that admit it. And a class object may contain references, and sometimes one may want to copy those over as well, so one might want to have deep clone operator, too. Hans