On Thursday, 13 January 2022 at 21:32:15 UTC, Paul Backus wrote:
Actually, I think *self*-government has very little to do with
it.
I'm not so sure.
Presumably, C++ provides a programmer with much greater autonomy
over their code than D?
C provides even greater autonomy over both C++ and D. And I'd
argue, that's why C remains so useful, and so popular (for those
problems where such a level of autonomy is needed).
By, 'autonomy', I mean a language provided means, for choosing
what code can do, and how it does it.
A language that makes you jump through loops to get that
autonomy, will serve a niche purpose (like Java for example).
An aversion to losing that autonomy, I believe, is a very real
reason as to why larger numbers of C++ programmers do not even
consider switching to D.
Of course, even if they did consider D, there are other
considerations at play as well.
It think this is also why D (in contrast to C++ programmers)
tends to attract programmers from the C# and Java like world.
That is, D provides greater autonomy (which should translate to
greater freedom to innovate and be creative with code).
Of course autonomy is not something that is real.
Only the 'perception of autonomy' can be real ;-)
