On Saturday, 26 September 2015 at 10:14:38 UTC, Jacob Carlborg
wrote:
On 2015-09-26 11:50, Manu via Digitalmars-d wrote:
*anything* that is perceived as friction is written off
almost immediately.
Yet they still use C++ :)
C++ has its issues, but it's still a great language - especially
in comparison to many other languages. And even if the programmer
in question really doesn't like C++ that much, they're at least
familiar with it and used to dealing with its downsides. Using a
new language takes them completely outside their comfort zone and
requires them to deal with a different set of pros and cons, and
it requires them to learn a new a language, which meany
programmers just don't want to deal with. So, if a new language
seems to have problems that they're current one doesn't (even if
it supposedly has other aspects which are way better), many folks
simply aren't going to be interested. It's a risk to try
something new, and it takes time. And many folks simply don't
want to do that. You tend get similar problems when trying to get
someone to use any program that replaces something that they're
currently using (trying to get someone to switch to LibreOffice
or to Linux would be good examples of that).
Unfortunately, with the kinds of folks that we're talking about
here, you need to get pretty much _everything_ right in order to
not run into problems like Manu is talking about. It tends to
take almost nothing for someone to decide that trying something
out isn't worth it if they're not actively looking for something
better. So, while we have a lot to gain by improving the
out-of-the-box user experience for D, it's also a fight that we
can't really ever win. There's always going to be _something_
which makes it seem like too much friction to many folks. But if
we can do better, then at least that will make it so that fewer
people react so negatively, even if many (or even most) still
will.
I don't think that there's any question that we have an easier
time of convincing someone who's actually interested in finding
something better and actually giving D a shot than someone who's
simply trying it out and dismiss it if they can. And it sounds
like Manu is dealing a lot with the latter type of folks.
- Jonathan M Davis
