[fpc-devel] Parameters must match exactly?

[Martin]

On 17/05/2010 10:29, Mattias Gaertner wrote:
> On Mon, 17 May 2010 10:05:27 +0100
> Martin<fpc at mfriebe.de>  wrote:
>
>    
>> On 14/05/2010 15:52, Mattias Gaertner wrote:
>>      
>>> "var" means, you can do this:
>>>
>>> type
>>>     TQStrings = class(TStrings)
>>>     end;
>>>
>>> procedure A(var s: TStrings);
>>> begin
>>>     s:=TQStrings.Create;
>>> end;
>>>
>>> Then your TStringList will no longer be a TStringList. That's why 'var'
>>> must match exactly.
>>> Same for out.
>>> Const and no modifier allows to pass descendants.
>>>
>>>        
>> yes, true, then if we follow that consequently:
>>
>>
>> procedure Foo(out s: TStrings);
>> begin
>> end;
>>
>> var x: TObject;
>> foo(x);
>>
>> should work? (or well only if it is made sure, that out really means
>> out, so the procedure is not allowed to use the value that was passed in)
>>
>> "s" can be assigned a TStrings (or descendant of) =>  which should be
>> fine, since it can be stored in x too.
>>      
> Theoretically: yes, this could work for classes.
> But as Jonas explained a few times: 'out' is *not* write only.
> Out is finalised and must therefore match exactly.
> And even write-only is not enough for "object"s because an ancestor
> has too less memory.
>    

Hm, finalization isn't happening in the user code. So shouldn't be an 
issue... and:
- are class-instance finalized? (maybe with interfaces)
- it's an implementation detail of the compiler => it could (maybe does) 
happen, in the calling code (where type info is known)

memory is allocated on the heap
s and x are both just pointers => so the size matches
Actually x is a pointer to s, and s a pointer to the memory. but s can 
be changed, so the memory can be re-allocted.

Martin