Value Types for Java

[Ben Hutchison]

Kenneth Russell wrote:
>  I would be concerned about the semantic change of 
> pass-by-value and what that would mean for the easy readability and 
> understanding of Java source code
I would point to the CLR as a successful example here. Value types and 
references types mingle fairly painlessly in .NET.

Ive done two commercial projects in .NET and spent a fair amount of time 
reading blogs, forums and articles in that community. I haven't got the 
impression that structs are a common stumbling block or pain point for 
.NET developers: developers sometimes wish structs allowed inheritance; 
the ability for structs to take null value seems to be one significantly 
desired feature, thats now provided via a transparently boxed form (see 
"Nullable types").

Admittedly, that platform offered them from the outset (and even 
specification of field layout in memory) whereas Java has been 
reference-types-only for > 12 years, so it's a bigger cultural change. 
But given the proliferation of JVM languages whose needs drive this 
mailing list, it seems like the Java community is in the mood for change.

-Ben

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*Ben Hutchison
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