On Saturday, 14 December 2013 at 04:17:16 UTC, Manu wrote:
It's all good, it's settled now. It's not my fault, or my intent, that the most trivial point in my list of comments is the one that apparently stimulated the most discussion... :/
Oh well, don't feel bad, I wrote tongue-in-cheek and needed motivation to de-lurk. If people can't stand opinions about whitespace they should get off the net. :-) In my opinion you would need an editor with good taste who develops the style guide and enforces it. That's the best way for a volunteer-like project, I think, because enforcing a style you don't enjoy is no fun so it is important that the one responsible for fixing code-layout LOVES the "design".
(I personally suspect that the lots-of-extra-lines styles were developed, not out of taste, but as a strategy to get impressive Lines-Of-Code-counts! Lines of code used as a measure of productivity by clueless managers.)
On another note, now that I am here: I find the D-forums to be very entertaining, lots of fun discussions comparing different languages. So I keep coming back. I once had great hope for D as a better C++, but I have kind of given up, even though I find the other C-family members kind of distasteful too, but their compilers are better (for now). I am also kind of wondering if Dart will replace Javascript and then a more static version of that language eventually will replace C++. It makes little sense to have all these almost-the-same imperative languages…
Regarding using the not-operator for non-not-operations: anything would be better than reusing operators that are commonly used to affect control-flow. It makes it difficult to comprehend control flow when you skim code you are not familiar with. "not" tends to be used for completely changing the flow of a program so those "!" are attention-seekers when trying comprehend unfamiliar code.
What makes me sit on the fence regarding D (I have used it actively a couple of years ago) is:
1. Not enough improvement on syntax (In some areas better than C++, in others worse. In regards to templates it is even worse, and C++ is kind of bad.)
2. No way to get rid of garbage-collection without making the language crippled. This is a show-stopper.
3. No high performing authoritative compiler suite. When the efforts are spread over 3 compilers I just don't expect any of them to improve to a state where it becomes excellent (like having excellent error-messages, analytic features, tight IDE-integration etc). It gives an impression of a lack of direction and leadership, and makes me feel like there is no hope of D ever to catch up. Other languages keep improving too…
So obviously, it is not the semantics that makes me a lurking fence-sitter. The issues that makes me sit on the fence are certainly in areas that could be fixed, but I don't expect it will be. So I stick to the forums, for now… ;-) Though I do really wish you the best, and will certainly use/contribute to D when/if it resolves the issues listed above.
Ola.
