On Sunday, 20 January 2013 at 14:31:25 UTC, Phil Lavoie wrote:
On Sunday, 20 January 2013 at 09:52:42 UTC, SaltySugar wrote:
Why it isn't popular? We must popularize it. There aren't any
tutorials with D, books and other stuff. How about writing a D
programming forum?
I have heard of D from a coworker but was uninterested in
learning a new language at the time (and there might be many
others in that situation). I use D now because I started a new
project and D fitted my needs perfectly.
I think D shines when people start looking for a new language,
especially as a C/C++ (IMHO) replacement. As more and more
will, the more popular D will become.
As you know, those languages C/C++ are probably the most used
languages worldwide (I am not saying not other rivals them) and
in companies. Therefore, people who use it tend to use it for
good reasons (legacy code compatibility, maturity of
tools/compilers, efficient code generation, low memory
consumption, etc...), and their minds will be hard to change,
unless a smooth transition is guaranteed.
The standard library needs to be complete/reliable as well along
with everything needed for parallel processing. An obvious need
and interest is also present to have libraries/features not rely
on the GC (in places where there is no GC); Meaning likely only
the replaced functions (that needed the GC) need be re-written.
Perhaps naming it like std.nogc.stdio for clarity; Naturally
anything in std.stdio will be forwarded through the nogc so
transition is invisible API-wise.
I'm sure once the library & compiler & language are fully fixed
and ready that D will become very very popular. C++ will never
stop being used (embedded systems, games that they need every
cycle and can't risk switching languages), but it's ugliness and
issues can be reduced, maybe even replaced as the standard
language some day.
