On 15/07/2012 23:36, SomeDude wrote:
On Sunday, 15 July 2012 at 20:50:47 UTC, Patrick Stewart wrote:
OTOH, it may break the community yet again, which we certainly don't
want, probably even less than breaking code.
Also, the example of Python with two main stable branches that live
in parallel is not very encouraging.
Also, check Python website: they recommend python v2 for all new users
that don't know what to choose. They are both stable, but v2 has more
libraries, and they do reassure them by saying v2 will be supported
for time to come.
On the other hand, on D website, D1 is pushed to the dark corners as
ugly half child nobody should know about, and D2 is titled as thing to
chose without thinking. And there is no mentioning D1 is relatively
stable, while D2 is still unstable, non conforming to D documentation
and that some things just don't work, while in constant beta flux that
breaks things on regular basis with each release.
So tell me again, which language treats its users with more respect ?
Which one encourages users more to use them?
The problem I raised is not a problem of respect. It's a problem of
community. The D community is a tiny fraction of the Python community.
It has been steadily growing this last year and a half or so, but it's
still fragile. The D1/D2 split basically set it back to near zero for
several years, with many people leaving, only a few staying, and a
number recently coming back.
The project certainly can't afford yet another split, or many key people
will simply throw the towel. I for one would rather see part of the
users quitting than active members.
As for the stability of D2, upir opinion may be different, but it has
largely improved recently due to increased forces, as several people
have noted (David Simcha in a recent thread said something about the
stability of the compiler being good enough that he only rarely
encountered a problem). And considering the rate of bugs correction, it
will continue to improve. You only need to have a look at the changelog
to see that it's growing with each release, and I'm pretty confident
that the 2.060 will contain more bug fixes than any past release.
Well bug will be fixed for sure.
But, as explained, as new feature are also introduced, bug will also be
introduced.
This is why stable release is never reached.
