On Friday, 23 January 2015 at 00:24:45 UTC, Andrei Alexandrescu
wrote:
I think it's important that we enable Calypso
(https://github.com/Syniurge/Calypso) and related tooling that
interfaces D with other languages, notably C++.
A key topic in 2015 for D is playing well with C++. A good C++
interface will give access to a host of mature C++ libraries,
starting of course with the C++ standard library. More
importantly, it will provide a smooth migration path for
organizations that want to do development in D whilst taking
advantage of their legacy code.
I'm very glad to see this coment from you so that we can get a
more fully fleshed out vision for where D is heading with C++
interop. I for instance have developed Smidgen
(https://github.com/alynch4047/smidgen) which was to wrap Qt.
However, I halted development (having made very good progress, I
believe) due to feeling that it could easily be superceded by a
more direct interface to C++ such as Calypso seems to be.
These efforts do amount to a lot of work and need commitment (to
their architecture) at the top level too. For instance, I needed
weak references which I have had to work around, without any
feeling that the workaround would continue to work with future
changes to the GC. I forget the details but I also had concerns
relating to GCed objects being relocated.
Calypso sounds fantastic but seems very tied to one compiler - we
all need to know if yourself and Walter are content with that,
for instance.
Getting a plan out there so that everyone can pull in one
direction would be great.
