As a follow up to my email to Walter...
I know I didn't address the question "How can D become adopted at
my company?" head-on.
An on-going project written in (say) C++ is not going to get
approval to re-write in D. There is no ROI in it.
A new project that could be written in D will be met with a lot
of resistance. Management will consider D too risky, as compared
to writing the same project in C++ or C# or Java. Co-workers not
familiar with D will consider it as a pain-in-the-learning-curve
[an attitude I cannot fathom; learning a new computer language is
a joy, like opening a birthday present].
In some cases, such as shipping an application for iOS or Windows
Phone or Android devices, can D even be utilized? Even if
management and the team's developers are behind using D?
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A brief blurb about who I am...
I started programming in 1976, where I contributed to a program
called Oregon Trail written in HP2000A BASIC on TIES. That was
my very first programming experience.
After learning BASIC, I learned 6502 assembly, then later picked
up FORTRAN, Pascal, and C. Then 68000 assembly.
I abandoned programming in assembly when I got my first
optimizing C compiler, which was able to out-optimize my lovingly
hand-crafted assembly. I became a true believer in the powerful
mojo of optimizing compilers.
In 1990, I switched from C to C++, first as as "Better C"
compiler. By two years later, I had fully embraced OOP style.
C++ was my main language for a long time, with a couple years
doing Java. Most recently, I have been programming in C#.
---
About 12 years ago, using Aho's dragon book by my side, I tried
my hand at writing my own programming language. After six
months, I gave up because creating a good, general purpose
programming language IS VERY VERY HARD.
Later, when I stumbled upon D, it was like Walter had read my
mind and implemented what I could only conceive of... I was
smitten. And I still am.
So the languages I admire are...
* D, as a general purpose natively compiled multi-paradigm
programming language
* Lua, as a barebones, small footprint, embed-able
do-it-yourself scripting language
* Python 3, as a kitchen-sink-included scripting language
I have used extensively BASIC (HP2000A, Apple Integer, Applesoft,
MAI BusinessBASIC IV, PickBASIC), FORTRAN, Prolog, LISP & Scheme,
6502 Assembly, 680x0 Assembly, Pascal, Mathematica, C, C++,
Objective-C, Objective-C++, Java.
I'm also intrigued by some other languages but I do not use them
day-to-day, such as F#, Spec#, Sing#. And I certainly have toyed
with many other programming languages, such as Perl, Ruby, REXX,
Ada, Squeak, Forth, PostScript, yada yada yada.
My educational background is in high-energy physics where I
learned FORTRAN, linguistics (with a focus on semantics and
artificial intelligence) where I learned Prolog and LISP, and
computer science.
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And the most important bit of information: I use vi (Vim).
