void foo(Bar <&b>) {
b.frag(3); // Call some method
...
}
In this case, foo would either be passed a copy of a
Bar type (pass by value) or a reference to an existing
Bar. The precise choice, of course, would be up to the
implementation. Obviously, the compiler would pick the best
option--making it a good choice for programmers too stupid to know whether
they should use a pointer or not.
Obviously, there are a few complicated cases such as:
The interpretation of this is left as an exercise to the reader (hey, it's good to be a professor).void foo(const Bar *const *<&b>);
Circular shift operators. Sure, one doesn't really need to do a circular bit shift very often, but they are sometimes useful in cryptographic algorithms and for general-purpose bit-twiddling. I propose the inclusion of the triple angle bracket operators (<<< and >>>) for this purpose. Of course, these operators could also be overloaded just like the normal shift operators. It's not that I really need these operators, but it is yet another opportunity to include more angle brackets into the language.
The survival cast. I'm not really sure where I got this idea, but basically it works like this: given an object, you can cast it using a survival_cast like this
Afterwards, the object that x points to is guaranteed to be undeletable--even if a program repeatedly calls delete or free() on it. This effect applies to the object itself, not the pointer (thus, the cast implicitly applies to all other pointers referring to the same object). Furthermore, the cast remains in effect until the program terminates--making this a particularly good way to avoid those pesky memory management problems such as calling delete too many times by accident.Bar *x = survival_cast<Bar *>(y);
The survival cast can be applied to the individual elements of an array or container. However, in this case, the implementation must ensure that deletion of the array or container only deletes those members for which the survival cast has not been applied.
When too many objects have been cast using the survival cast, they may decide to spontaneously delete themselves along with an unspecified number of non-survival objects. This is a feature. However, the precise mechanism and scope of destruction is implementation specific and may depend on the type of objects to which the survival cast has been applied.
The non-castable function pointer. Since function pointers are too confusing for everyone, it should be impossible to cast them into any other type. Oh wait, this is already a C++ feature.
The identifier length cast. Since we're on the subject of casting.... I would also like to propose the identifier length cast. This is a cast that only works if the identifier names of the two types are exactly the same length in characters. For example:
In addition, there should be an identifier_case_cast that works similarly, but which looks at the case of the type names. I'm not really sure what purpose these casts would serve, but that doesn't really distinguish them from any of the other casts.Bar *x = identifier_length_cast<Foo *>(y); // Ok FooBar *x = identifier_length_cast<Foo *>(y); // Error
The instance goto. In a nutshell, I really want to be able to do this:
class Foo {
public:
...
bar:
printf("Hello world\n");
... some code here ...
break;
};
int main() {
Foo *f = new Foo;
goto f.bar;
...
}
Obviously, the benefits of this feature are self-evident. However,
there are still a few tricky points. First, the goto should work with
inheritance when the goto label happens to appear in a base-class. Second,
the goto should certainly take advantage of dynamic binding much like virtual
member functions. Finally, I believe that there would be many interesting
possibilities of combining template classes with goto. For example:
template class Foo<x> {
public:
x:
... some code here ...
break;
...
};
Clearly, the number of applications is endless.
MP3 player. Since compiling a C++ application takes so long, I think it would be useful to modify the C++ compiler to go out and search the net for an appropriate symphony or sonata to download and play while it is working. Ahhhh. Yes. Of course, if you have a DVD player handy, I have personally found that watching "Apocalypse Now" is a relaxing way to pass the time.