[swift-evolution] [Pitch] UnsafePointer.advanced(to:)

[Brent Royal-Gordon]

> On Jun 6, 2017, at 9:06 AM, Xiaodi Wu <xiaodi.wu at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Why would this be an extension on UnsafePointer and not KeyPath?

1. I can't come up with a name as good as `advanced(to:)` that would be attached to the key path. I use `advance(_:)` in the other two reasons below, but I don't think it's nearly as clear about what it's doing to the pointer.

2. Passing the pointer as the parameter would encourage use of `&`, which would be invalid.

	(\CGRect.origin.y).advance(&myRect)		// Pointer might be to a temporary
	(&myRect).advanced(to: \.origin.y)			// Rejected during compilation because & is not allowed there

3. Passing the key path as a parameter improves the code's appearance when you specify the key path in the expression.

	myRectPtr.advanced(to: \.origin.y)
	(\CGRect.origin.y).advance(myRectPtr)		// Requires explicit type name and extra parentheses

-- 
Brent Royal-Gordon
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