On 26.07.24 16:26, Boqun Feng wrote: > On Fri, Jul 26, 2024 at 01:43:38PM +0000, Benno Lossin wrote: > [...] >>>> >>>> You can always get a `&T` from `ARef<T>`, since it implements `Deref`. >>>> >>> >>> Yeah, but this is unrelated. I was talking about that API providers can >>> decide whether they want to only provide a `raw_ptr` -> `ARef<Self>` if >>> they don't need to provide a `raw_ptr` -> `&Self`. >>> >>>>> Overall, I feel like we don't necessarily make a preference between >>>>> `->&Self` and `->ARef<Self>` functions here, since it's up to the users' >>>>> design? >>>> >>>> I would argue that there should be a clear preference for functions >>>> returning `&Self` when possible (ie there is a parameter that the >>> >>> If "possible" also means there's going to be `raw_ptr` -> `&Self` >>> function (as the same publicity level) anyway, then agreed. In other >>> words, if the users only need the `raw_ptr` -> `ARef<Self>` >>> functionality, we don't want to force people to provide a `raw_ptr` -> >>> `&Self` just because, right? >> >> I see... I am having a hard time coming up with an example where users >> would exclusively want `ARef<Self>` though... What do you have in mind? >> Normally types wrapped by `ARef` have `&self` methods. >> > > Having `&self` methods doesn't mean the necessarity of a `raw_ptr` -> > `&Self` function, for example, a `Foo` is wrapped as follow: > > struct Foo(Opaque<foo>); > impl Foo { > pub fn bar(&self) -> Bar { ... } > pub unsafe fn get_foo(ptr: *mut foo) -> ARef<Foo> { ... } > } > > in this case, the abstration provider may not want user to get a > `raw_ptr` -> `&Self` function, so no need to have it. I don't understand this, why would the abstraction provider do that? The user can already get a `&Foo` reference, so what's the harm having a function supplying that directly? I get the argument that you need to always convert to `ARef` if users only use that, but when `Foo` provides `&self` methods, you're not required to have an `ARef`. --- Cheers, Benno