Add shorthand aliases for primitive types

[ryuukk]

I have them in a personal module, but i am tired of importing that module everywhere

I think having them in object.d is a nice idea, even though i'd like the language to support that out of the box like every other languages out there, but i don't know how to do that, unfortunately

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[ibuclaw]

What's the benefit? Users already know these are fixed sized types, that doesn't need to be made clearer.

[ryuukk]

What's the benefit? Users already know these are fixed sized types, that doesn't need to be made clearer.

It's consistent, less typing, it is clear, and for people who want to learn the language, it's straight forward too, lets you add more types and follow same consistent scheme (cent, SIMD)

[dkorpel]

i'd like the language to support that out of the box like every other languages out there

Not C, C#, C++ or Java.

It's consistent, less typing, it is clear, and for people who want to learn the language

Walter has already explained why he's against it: https://forum.dlang.org/post/sq65vr$1huq$1@digitalmars.com

But even if the proposed names are better, introducing synonyms does not make the language easier, because it introduces the question which one to use.

lets you add more types and follow same consistent scheme (cent, SIMD)

No, the current convention of typeNN (e.g. float4) doesn't work with e.g. f32, which results in f324.

[ryuukk]

Not C, C#, C++ or Java.

They are dying languages

Walter has already explained why he's against it

That doesn't mean he is right about it, we can disagree with him

introducing synonyms does not make the language easier, because it introduces the question which one to use.

i can understand that, that is a good point

No, the current convention of typeNN (e.g. float4) doesn't work with e.g. f32, which results in f324.

f32x4

Things would be easier if we could have some sort of global aliases/types like custom object.d

[ryuukk]

Anyone else? i'd rather see this be closed asap if nobody wants it than stay open and me waiting for an opinion

Alternatively i could instead lobby for a way to get global aliases instead (via global module C# global using, or C/C++ PCH ), please let me know

Thanks!

[dkorpel]

I'm going to close this because I see no way this gets in like this.

• The existing names are well-established in D
• Walter prefers them over the proposed alternative
• We both agree that having multiple names is bad for everyone

If you still want to pursue this, maybe when ideas for D3 comes up or C/C++/C#/Java are not top 10 languages anymore, feel free to propose this again. I suggest to post in the newsgroup in that case, that's more visible than a pull request discussion.