• Ben Hinkle (9/9) Oct 31 2003 Why is "toStringz" called "toStringz"? I was looking for a function name
• J Anderson (6/16) Oct 31 2003 I like the name, because it does not refer to c. Why should zero
• Walter (9/18) Oct 31 2003 Pascal
• Charles Sanders (7/16) Oct 31 2003 I kind of agree, its not completely intuitive, i usually alias it to c_s...
• Helmut Leitner (15/18) Nov 01 2003 I find it entirely intuitive, for the "Z" at the end symbolizes
• Ben Hinkle (12/21) Nov 01 2003 I thought of two other points.
• Vathix (5/8) Nov 01 2003 That's not bad... I do this sometimes, to make a string compatible with ...

"Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> writes:

Why is "toStringz" called "toStringz"? I was looking for a function name
more along the lines of "toCString" or just "cstring". It is a cute pun on
"strings" and "stringz" and I guess the "z" is for "zero" and it mirrors
"toString" but overall the name is pretty obscure to me.
I can't remember the exact names of the functions that converted from Pascal
to C string I used back when the Mac was Pascal based but they seemed pretty
reasonable.
Has there been discussion of this before?
-Ben

J Anderson <anderson badmama.com.au.REMOVE> writes:

Ben Hinkle wrote:

Why is "toStringz" called "toStringz"? I was looking for a function name
more along the lines of "toCString" or just "cstring". It is a cute pun on
"strings" and "stringz" and I guess the "z" is for "zero" and it mirrors
"toString" but overall the name is pretty obscure to me.
I can't remember the exact names of the functions that converted from Pascal
to C string I used back when the Mac was Pascal based but they seemed pretty
reasonable.
Has there been discussion of this before?
-Ben


  

I like the name, because it does not refer to c. Why should zero 
terminated strings refer to c, it's not the only language that uses 
them.  In fact, zero terminated strings in c are just a convention 
(although a very common convention), not part of the language.

-Anderson

"Walter" <walter digitalmars.com> writes:

"Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> wrote in message
news:bntnf9$2262$1 digitaldaemon.com...
 Why is "toStringz" called "toStringz"? I was looking for a function name
 more along the lines of "toCString" or just "cstring". It is a cute pun on
 "strings" and "stringz" and I guess the "z" is for "zero" and it mirrors
 "toString" but overall the name is pretty obscure to me.
 I can't remember the exact names of the functions that converted from

Pascal
 to C string I used back when the Mac was Pascal based but they seemed

pretty
 reasonable.
 Has there been discussion of this before?
 -Ben

It falls back to the ancient convention of calling a zero-terminated string
ASCIZ. I always liked that, though I haven't seen anyone use that nickname
for a loooong time. At one early point, the D char type was called 'ascii',
but since ascii is a trademarked name, and since char morphed into being a
UTF-8 type, it was dropped.

"Charles Sanders" <sanders-consulting comcast.net> writes:

I kind of agree, its not completely intuitive, i usually alias it to c_str
in the string module.

C

"Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> wrote in message
news:bntnf9$2262$1 digitaldaemon.com...
 Why is "toStringz" called "toStringz"? I was looking for a function name
 more along the lines of "toCString" or just "cstring". It is a cute pun on
 "strings" and "stringz" and I guess the "z" is for "zero" and it mirrors
 "toString" but overall the name is pretty obscure to me.
 I can't remember the exact names of the functions that converted from

Pascal
 to C string I used back when the Mac was Pascal based but they seemed

pretty
 reasonable.
 Has there been discussion of this before?
 -Ben

Helmut Leitner <helmut.leitner chello.at> writes:

Charles Sanders wrote:
 
 I kind of agree, its not completely intuitive, i usually alias it to c_str
 in the string module.

I find it entirely intuitive, for the "Z" at the end symbolizes
the placement.

I once built a system that supported a number of different
string types in a database. The names where (IIRC):

  string /0       STRINGZ                       short SZ
  n string        NSTRING (max 256 chars)       short NS
  nm string       NMSTRING (max 64 K chars)     short MS
  ...

There seemed nothing more natural.

Such string conventions have nothing to do with a special language,
so c_str just embodies a personal habit or viewpoint.

-- 
Helmut Leitner    leitner hls.via.at
Graz, Austria   www.hls-software.com

"Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> writes:

I thought of two other points.
1) By being so close to toString one could easily believe it takes the same
inputs as toString and just returns a zero-terminated version. But as far as
I can tell one can only pass char[] to toStringz.
2) shouldn't toStringz return a D string that is zero terminated? That would
be more consistent with toString and would make the use of the word "string"
more consistent.

-Ben

"Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> wrote in message
news:bntnf9$2262$1 digitaldaemon.com...
 Why is "toStringz" called "toStringz"? I was looking for a function name
 more along the lines of "toCString" or just "cstring". It is a cute pun on
 "strings" and "stringz" and I guess the "z" is for "zero" and it mirrors
 "toString" but overall the name is pretty obscure to me.
 I can't remember the exact names of the functions that converted from

Pascal
 to C string I used back when the Mac was Pascal based but they seemed

pretty
 reasonable.
 Has there been discussion of this before?
 -Ben

"Vathix" <vathix dprogramming.com> writes:

 2) shouldn't toStringz return a D string that is zero terminated? That

would
 be more consistent with toString and would make the use of the word

"string"
 more consistent.

That's not bad... I do this sometimes, to make a string compatible with C
and D:
s = toStringz(s)[0 .. s.length];