D vs Java

[Sean Kelly]

Walter Bright wrote:
> 
> Essentially, I learned that if you are supporting an application, and you 
> need to be in control of your support costs, you have to be able to control 
> the generation of the executable. That's impossible with a VM.

Very interesting point.

> But also, really, what is the difference between relying on a JIT compiler 
> for each platform, and a native compiler for each platform? Why should the 
> JIT compiler be more reliable? There's no technical reason it should be. If 
> the language has portable semantics, and the compilers implement those 
> semantics correctly, it should be write once, run everywhere. There's no 
> technical reason a VM is required to make that happen. 

There is no difference :-)  The only reason a VM was attractive is 
because it allowed applets to run in a sandbox.  And since Java applets 
failed as a technology, there's no real reason to consider default VM 
support as an advantage.  Others are also quick to point out that 
there's no reason C++ or D couldn't run on a VM as well, as .NET has proven.


Sean