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

[Serge Hulne <serge hulne gmail com>]

All right,

But it is a rather odd class indeed then, because:

1) I dont't think it has the value "null" when unassigned.

2) It derogates to the rule according to which the default behaviour in an
assignment between class types is by reference (when a string is assigned to
another, the default is to copy the data, unless it is explicitly declared
"unowned")

3) When a string is created, it does not require the use of the keyword
"new"
( it is: string s = "hello";  not: string s = new string("hello"); )

4) Yet, it is passed by reference in a function call.


Since the string class, seems to behave unlike any other class, perhaps its
singular behaviour ought to be emphasized in the documentation.

Serge.





On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 5:45 PM, Phil Housley <undeconstructed gmail com>wrote:

> On 11 July 2011 13:03, Serge Hulne <serge hulne gmail com> wrote:
> > > A string in Vala is a *reference* type [1] and therefore passed by
> >
> > Not according to the documentation:
> >
> > Cf Vala tutorial:
> >
> > "Reference Types
> >
> > The reference types are all types declared as a class, regardless of
> > whether they are descended from GLib's Object or not. Vala will ensure
> > that when you pass an object by reference the system will keep track
> > of the number of references currently alive in order to manage the
> > memory for you. The value of a reference that does not point anywhere
> > is null. More on classes and their features in the section about
> > object oriented programming."
>
> Actually, string is a classed type, see
> http://git.gnome.org/browse/vala/tree/vapi/glib-2.0.vapi#n1032
>
> It isn't the most convenient class, since strings are used raw, with
> no wrapping for extra features (like reference counting etc,) but in
> general behaves like other classed types.
>
> > That is why I sought to clarify this point
> >
> > Serge.
> >
> >
> >
> > > reference. The documentation is correct here, it may just need to
> > > point out clearly that fact.
> > >
> > > HTH,
> > > Abderrahim
> > >
> > > [1] it is a bit special because it is immutable, and thus copied
> > > whenever there is a new strong reference to it
> > _______________________________________________
> > vala-list mailing list
> > vala-list gnome org
> > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/vala-list
>
>
>
> --
> Phil Housley