On 9/11/2014 8:39 AM, Sean Kelly wrote:
Is C++ interop really that important or is it another one of those "if D had this, *then* I would use it!" dismissals. C interop is clearly crucial. Operating system interfaces are written in C, and not being able to call C functions is hugely limiting. But C++? I honestly can't envision a situation where I would actually care about C++ interop. Is this truly a blocker for some people? Like an actual, honest blocker and not just a false flag?
C++ was adopted because one could gradually ease into it from C. This will never be true for C++ => D, but many people have reported it was nearly impossible to transition to D for them because they had engines, libraries, whatever, in C++ and it was just not reasonable to wrap them with a C interface. So they just stayed with C++.
Considering that some of them spent some significant effort trying to do it suggests it is an honest blocker (and I've seen plenty of false flags).
Interestingly, D's "competitor" languages do not offer any migration path from C++, and some are even poor at hooking up with C code. Having a better story with D offers us potentially a huge advantage.
