I think it's very low hanging fruit to add support for basic
C++ namespaces. Support for basically just set the mangled name
in a somewhat nice way, a pragma for example.
I think it is more important to think in term of strategic
positions than whether it takes 1 or 2 weeks to implement a
feature.
Assumption:
It is desirable to make the eco system more attractive for
commercial projects.
Key requirements:
- Long term stability of the dev environment.
- Access to mature libraries with significant backing (basically
C/C++ libraries).
- Easy integration with existing technology and systems
(basically C/C++).
- No lock-in (basically C/C++ interop).
- Predictable dev environment that enables precise cost estimates.
- Lowering costs/faster development than the alternatives (more
convinient than C/C++)
If you cannot assume that you can utilize a C++ library from D or
if you have to assume that using a C++ library might incur a
significant interfacing overhead (in terms of programmer's time)
then D looks like a more risky proposition.
The key difference between a commercial project and a hobby
project is that the hobby project can fully adapt the
requirements to the dev environment. A hobbyist game project can
settle for a less capable physics engine or create a custom one,
for fun. A commercial project will view that as costs that cut
into profit margins and a potential source of failure in the
market. That's a good reason to go with C++ instead of D.
From a strategic point of view it is important to fully support
those features you claim to support.
If you can claim that interfacing with C++, except for templates,
is easy, then you communicate that it is relatively easy to
assess project costs. If you only claim that it is possible to
interface with some of C++, but that it is kind of difficult
under certain vaguely specified circumstances then I think you
should wait until you have a better solution.
What you absolutely don't want is to trick people into thinking
that interfacing with C++ is easy, if it isn't, and have them
discover that they are better off dumping D and doing it all over
in C++.
