some questions about D

[Nick B]

Luis P. Mendes wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm about to begin a project on artificial intelligence, decision trees 
> and some other algorithmic stuff that needs runtime and development speed.
> 
> I've been looking to D before, but ended up reading and learning some C+
> +.  But C++ seems more complex than I need and outdated (my opinion).
> As Python (the language I used to program) is not suitable for the task, 
> I kindly ask you some questions.  I only need short answers!
> 
> 1) Can I access a PostgreSQL and/or MySQL database from D?  Are there 
> (fast/reliable) database adapters?

This I don't know. I suggest you ask the tango team.

> 2) Is it easy to use C++ libraries?  Is it close to use them from inside C
> ++ programs?
> 3) D compilers don't yet compile natively in 64 bits processors? Mine is 
> a x86_64 Linux system.

The LDC compiler, is being used currently by members of the Tango 
framework, especially for large maths problems.
Tango does support 64 bit code.

I might be worthwhile talking to them directly.

You can find them by going to : http://webchat.freenode.net/
and enter "#D.tango" as the channel. Enter your name as a user id.
If you can, try to talk to "fawzi"


you should also check out:  http://www.dsource.org/projects/tango


> 4) I have to use huge (for me) amounts of data, maybe I'll make use of 
> most of my 8GB RAM memory.  Will I find problems due to any compiler/
> language limit?
> 5) Besides Alexei forthcoming book, is there documentation for the whole 
> language and not only to part of it as in http://compsci.ca/v3/
> viewtopic.php?t=9518 and http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/A_Beginner%
> 27s_Guide_to_D ?


Details of the book can be found here: 
http://www.dsource.org/projects/tango/wiki/LearnToTangoWithD

and yes, I found the book easy to understand.

> 6) Is D version 2 suitable for a beginner like me starting a new project? 

D2 is still a moving target.  Tango runs on top of D1.

> 7) What advantages can I have in using Tango? Speed? Ease of development? 
> will it be integrated as standard?
> 

Tango is an alternative framework library, which is being activity 
supported. If you want to compare based on speed, you should write
a small benchmark for your problem.


Nick B