+1 for having to mark calls to `inout` parameters with `inout` rather than `&`, `&` is well entrenched in its C usage.<div><br></div><div>For repurposing of `&`; if you had library functions:<div><br></div><div><div><font size="2"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> class Reference<T> {</span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> let value: T</span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> init(value: T) { self.value = value }</span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> }</span></font></div></div><div><font size="2"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> </span></font></div><div><div><font size="2"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> class MutableReference<T> {</span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> var value: T</span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> init(value: T) { self.value = value }</span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> }</span></font></div></div><div><br></div><div>Then when you obtained something from a C library you wrapped it:</div><div><br></div><div> let rect = MutableReference(CGRectMake(0,0,0,0))</div><div><br></div><div>Wouldn't that cover most use cases and be simpler than implementing a new `&`?</div><div><br></div><div>The above classes would also have general purpose usage reference semantics rather than `inout` semantics, e.g.:</div><div><br></div><div> let array = [MutableArray(1), MutableArray(2)]</div><div><br></div><div>`array` can be passed to threads, used in closures, etc. without the copy in and copy out semantics being surprising and unpredictable.<br><br>On Thursday, 7 January 2016, Trent Nadeau via swift-evolution <<a href="javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','swift-evolution@swift.org');" target="_blank">swift-evolution@swift.org</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>+1</div><div><br></div><div>Chris Lattner mentioned that he wants to have a version of Rust's borrowing syntax eventually. With this change, if we get that, then we keep a very symmetric syntax:</div><div><font face="monospace, monospace">func foo(x: inout T) </font><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">called as</font><font face="monospace, monospace"> foo(inout myT)</font></div><div><font face="monospace, monospace">func foo(x: &T) </font><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">called as</font><font face="monospace, monospace"> foo(&myT)</font></div><div><font face="monospace, monospace">func foo(x: &mut T) </font><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">called as</font><font face="monospace, monospace"> foo(&mut myT)</font></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 10:42 AM, Tahoma Toelkes via swift-evolution <span dir="ltr"><<a>swift-evolution@swift.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>+1</div><div><br></div><div>My sentiments exactly. As I was catching up on this thread, this was almost exactly the syntax I was already considering mentioning when I encountered Erica's reply.</div><div><br></div><div>I don't know whether it will meet all requirements; however, from a readability perspective in both declarations and function type signatures, this syntax is the first of the suggestions that feels clear to me.</div><div><br><div>-- Tahoma</div></div><div><br>On Dec 21, 2015, at 11:20 AM, Ricardo Parada via swift-evolution <<a>swift-evolution@swift.org</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Dec 19, 2015, at 4:10 PM, Erica Sadun <<a>erica@ericasadun.com</a>> wrote:</div><br><div><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div>What would the ramifications of the following be? Each addresses the "confusable with labeling" issue but preserve the inout keyword.</div><div><br></div><div><font face="Courier">func foo(x: inout Int)</font></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">...<br></blockquote><div><br></div>I think I like this one better than all the others. <div>I have not analyzed all the implications of having it there but it feels right. <br><br></div><div><br></div>
<img src="https://u2002410.ct.sendgrid.net/wf/open?upn=nOyyu1luPOjzFvdBwEG1HV4sgQnzthF2g0P1P-2BlVfYA6zqqvBAeHxZRmBrKD99TdxZui-2FlQ-2FlxUOWNDsQw6DSqV-2FHeLpsleLcfouIk0Ny0mJ6fSttsHwELL5ZfJCoJlOl2T6UbKt6YRg5y8ZO7lmkMCXbVTce3xY-2Fl8QevWJw7q2vwnxpt-2BSJ20C7sTHOnIR0dUI5PfUQXXVXYoA2nUrX6Ek6pXbOLOu2GsusTyRQZM-3D" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" style="min-height:1px!important;width:1px!important;border-width:0!important;margin-top:0!important;margin-bottom:0!important;margin-right:0!important;margin-left:0!important;padding-top:0!important;padding-bottom:0!important;padding-right:0!important;padding-left:0!important">
</div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>swift-evolution mailing list</span><br><span><a>swift-evolution@swift.org</a></span><br><span><a href="https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution" target="_blank">https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution</a></span><br></div></blockquote>
<img src="https://u2002410.ct.sendgrid.net/wf/open?upn=PLxfwCJEjPeWvUDZqEq2h1e5BRs1s4m99sV2gcalz-2FQE0w4FHpr7AuZrHYZKL6qbVJtWzFqTxmDII-2BYM6pgzZhrc1D-2Bqmn-2BYFZZtDCFXacT7ZhpP2P1w2eZL4AuitTGL-2F4EMSFAqlfxUGnASdSaAbc2jjjZsyBiGi634xokvn9JUHPCngIuiJJcCaZPj4N2wSM7rwT0D5m4-2BZ0bdXZ69NSUM1cgKsqE7VpbGNmspAo8-3D" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" style="min-height:1px!important;width:1px!important;border-width:0!important;margin-top:0!important;margin-bottom:0!important;margin-right:0!important;margin-left:0!important;padding-top:0!important;padding-bottom:0!important;padding-right:0!important;padding-left:0!important">
</div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
swift-evolution mailing list<br>
<a>swift-evolution@swift.org</a><br>
<a href="https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div>Trent Nadeau</div>
</div></div>
<img src="https://u2002410.ct.sendgrid.net/wf/open?upn=Vm9j-2B2K6zLqxUFTO82XA8HV2TThDz5lA3-2F-2Fpeujw7DRrnHRFf0GOFEKUCJVz7KiWRalc1xMYRCH4FnLM-2BxOWSi80ESBiTMZCf7ANrq6DIl7sBqPVhYuKtO7I9CSwp5TXxeLztduVAoMreFbl-2BzjrfqLnKtJTnmJw8D9jxq0fLpje3-2FygsPXby8lNRlgttKcAQbDiY3fjEncInFiYaFaR2A05rUXsB8VSbxucXpq-2Be3s-3D" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" style="min-height:1px!important;width:1px!important;border-width:0!important;margin-top:0!important;margin-bottom:0!important;margin-right:0!important;margin-left:0!important;padding-top:0!important;padding-bottom:0!important;padding-right:0!important;padding-left:0!important">
</blockquote></div></div>
<br><br>-- <br> -- Howard.<br><br>