Wouldn't it be possible to use just dot (.) to access members of namespace and static members of a class

Asked Mar 01 '18 at 17:05

Active May 19 '22 at 14:10

Viewed 117 times

In C++ we use double colon (::) to access members of namespace, use dot (.) to access members of class/structure and use arrow (->) to access members of class/structure via pointer.

Wouldn't it be possible to use just dot (.)? E.g. my_namespace.my_class.my_static_pointer.my_member. Why are separate lexemes used? Would there be any problems with syntax, if only dot (.) were used for all three cases?

edited May 19 '22 at 14:10

asked Mar 01 '18 at 17:05

anton_rh

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The scope operator `::`can be used for more things than just your example, things that would get ambigious – Hatted Rooster Mar 01 '18 at 17:08
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@davidhig Dot can not be overloaded for now. – Oliv Mar 01 '18 at 17:08
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@Oliv:ah, right, this is still a proposal – davidhigh Mar 01 '18 at 17:09
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It would make a different programming language. – Basile Starynkevitch Mar 01 '18 at 17:15
How would we then differentiate between a namespace and an object with automatic storage? That brings ambiguity and confusion in my opinion. – Ron Mar 01 '18 at 17:20
@Ron: You ought to base an answer on that. In getting all excited about the possibility of templates breaking, I forgot the obvious point. – Bathsheba Mar 01 '18 at 17:21
@Ron A namespace can just be seen as a singleton object, residing in the object file! It is a kind of static object created when the object file is mapped to memory. We already do not make any difference between objects created dynamicaly, automaticaly or staticaly. – Oliv Mar 01 '18 at 17:26
@Bathsheba I was about to but the question was sadly closed. – Ron Mar 01 '18 at 17:26
@Ron: It's an exact duplicate though. A good spot by the finder. There would be no harm in you putting an answer there. – Bathsheba Mar 01 '18 at 17:27
@Bathsheba I agree. It's a good dupe find. – Ron Mar 01 '18 at 17:27
Uh where did my comment go? Did it offend some mod? – Matteo Italia Mar 01 '18 at 17:30
@MatteoItalia: I appreciate that English may well not be your first language, but one of the words you used is offensive in that language. I did warn you. – Bathsheba Mar 01 '18 at 17:32
Oh well, I don't think the C++ grammar deserves any kinder words - nor that it's likely to resent my words, no matter how offensive they may be. – Matteo Italia Mar 01 '18 at 23:07
One more dup: https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/q/314531/213922 – anton_rh Mar 02 '18 at 04:04

Wouldn't it be possible to use just dot (.) to access members of namespace and static members of a class

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