Re: [Vala] Question regarding passing a strings as arguments to a method

[Serge Hulne <serge hulne gmail com>]

It is correct in a sense, but again it is misleading.

- A C++ programmer might interpret it as: f(std::string s), which
implies a copy, as opposed to: f(std::string& s).
- A Visual Basic programmer might interpret it as : f(ByVal test As
String) which is obviously not what is intended.

I am not saying, the documentation in inaccurate, I a merely pointing
out the fact that uses an ellipsis, therefore it is concise, but
ambiguous and can be misleading.

> "By reference" means the address of the variable, not of the object.

Ok, but then it worth saying so explicitly to lift the ambiguity.

Sincerely,
Serge.



On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 8:34 AM, Luca Bruno <lethalman88 gmail com> wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 07:10:45AM +0200, Serge Hulne wrote:
> > If one has a look at the C code generated by Vala for the following
> > two examples, it appears that the "unowned" keyword has no influence
> > on the way
> > the string b (of type gchar*) is passed to f().
> >
> > In both cases, it is passed as a pointer (without duplication).
> >
> > Therefore it seems to me that the Vala tutorial is slightly misleading
> > and should read:
> >
> >
> > - "In Vala strings are always passed by address".
>
> The documentation is correct, the "value" here is the reference itself.
> "By reference" means the address of the variable, not of the object.
>
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