[matt-edmondson]

Requested by Matt · project thread

Before: a method call on a const T& or const T* parameter generated Vec_length(&other) in C, which passes a pointer to a pointer. A chain such as v.twice().length() generated Vec_length(&Vec_twice(&v)), and no C compiler accepts the address of a call's result. C++ wrote other.length() on a pointer, and Rust wrote other.length() on a *const Vec. None of those compile.

After: C passes a pointer or reference receiver as it is (Vec2_length(other)). It wraps a call's result in a one-element array compound literal, Vec2_length((Vec2[]){ Vec2_twice(&v) }), which is an lvalue and decays to the pointer the function takes. C++ writes other->length(), and Rust writes unsafe { (*other).length() }.

How: the receiver's indirection comes from the static-type scope in StandardLanguageGenerator. C and C++ already pushed that scope. Rust now pushes it for function bodies and registers its locals. C also looks up a call's return type by the mangled name it gives a member function (Vec2_twice), because the shared lookup only knows the declared name. The base generator gains SpellMemberAccess, which C++ overrides to write ->. A receiver whose type is unknown is written as before.

The C, C++ and Rust compile tests each gain one case. It covers a call on a reference parameter, a call on a pointer parameter, and a chained call, all built from the shared ReceiverExemplar fixture. Each case compiles the output with warnings as errors, runs the driver, and checks the exit code. All 3 fail without the fix. The full suite passes: 1386 tests, 0 failures.

This doesn't cover a call on a type (static methods, #300) or on self (#141).

Fixes #170

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Generated by Claude Code

[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
97.3% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud