icsharpcode/ILSpy

Pointer arithmetic compound assignments

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#947 opened on Oct 30, 2017

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 (2 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)C# (25,162 stars) (3,645 forks)batch import
C#DecompilerEnhancementHelp Wanted

Description

We don't support code like this:

someStruct.PointerField += i;
int* x = someStruct.PointerField++;

I'm not sure if it's worth adding support for these constructs -- these are two quite complex features interacting with each other; and such code is quite rare.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
csharp
Domain
tooling
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
4
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
3-5 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
C# knowledgeunderstanding of pointer arithmeticfamiliarity with ILSpy's decompilation pipeline
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
15
Research direction
Investigate the ILSpy codebase to locate where compound assignment expressions are handled. Look at the existing support for pointer arithmetic (e.g., PointerArithmeticInstruction or similar) and see how it handles simple pointer arithmetic without assignment. Then, examine the expression tree or AST nodes for compound assignments (e.g., CompoundAssignmentExpression) to understand how to extend them to support pointer targets. Files likely involved include ICSharpCode.Decompiler/IL/ILInstruction.cs and related visitors. Check the existing tests for pointer arithmetic to ensure no regressions.