Vala could replace C ...

[Sean Kelly]

Reiner Pope wrote:
> kris wrote:
>> http://arstechnica.com/journals/linux.ars/2007/09/02/vala-high-level-programming-with-less-fat 
>>
>>
>> "Vala is still a work in progress, but support for the language is 
>> growing rapidly. Close GObject integration makes Vala an ideal choice 
>> for GNOME development, and the requisite library support is steadily 
>> falling into place. Vala's biggest deficiency right now is the lack of 
>> documentation. In time, Vala could replace C as the principle language 
>> of the GNOME platform."
> 
> Most of the listed features, D has too:
> 
> - Interfaces
> - Properties
> - Signals  (why is this a language feature?)

For object destruction notification with weak pointers, some runtime 
support is required, which one could argue imposes language requirements.

> - Foreach
> - Lambda expressions
> - Type inference for local variables
> - Generics

Generics or templates?  Big difference.

> - Non-null types
> - Assisted memory management
> - Exception handling
> - Type modules (Plugins)
> 
> I'm not sure how type modules work, but I do know about non-null types, 
> and they would sure be nice in D.

Plugin support in D would be great.  There is DDL...


Sean