On Thursday, 11 August 2016 at 15:41:42 UTC, Edward Diener wrote:
4) As a C++ programmer largely interested in C++ template
programming, C++ concepts etc., and potential
compile-time/run-time introspection, I have never found a
compelling reason to use D rather than C++. I do recognize that
C++'s template syntax is difficult and abstruse but I do not
and have never seen where D improves upon these matters in any
serious and rigorous way. This may be because the documentation
about these areas in D is either very light or almost
completely lacking. Even in Mr. Alexandrescu's book the
discussion of these areas was very light in my estimation. So
whatever D has to offer in these areas, if there are really
impovements, is either lacking in the D documentation or does
not really exist for me.
From the best of my knowledge you cannot do these things in in
C++:
https://p0nce.github.io/d-idioms/#Precomputed-tables-at-compile-time-through-CTFE
https://p0nce.github.io/d-idioms/#Enumerate-fields-with-__traits(allMembers)-and-static-foreach
https://p0nce.github.io/d-idioms/#Embed-a-dynamic-library-in-an-executable
https://p0nce.github.io/d-idioms/#Recursive-Sum-Type-with-matching
https://p0nce.github.io/d-idioms/#String-interpolation-as-a-library
https://p0nce.github.io/d-idioms/#Using-std.typecons.Flag-like-a-pro
https://p0nce.github.io/d-idioms/#Voldemort-types
Another expose of what you can achieve with these feature is the
"D Cookbook" book.
- Chapter 6 Forwarding methods with opDispatch
- Chapter 8 Getting a list of child classes
- Chapter 8 Determining if a module is available
- Chapter 8 Using user defined attributes
- Chapter 9 Creating user-defined literals
- Chapter 9 Generating data structure from text diagrams
Finally what we label "DbI" is quite the game changer:
https://p0nce.github.io/d-idioms/#Design-by-Introspection
