1.0 ??

[Bill Baxter]

Walter Bright wrote:
> BCS wrote:

> While an independent implementation of D would be worthwhile for many 
> reasons, there are many very successful languages for which only one 
> implementation exists - such as Perl, Ruby, etc., so it is not a 
> requirement.

I definitely agree.

> What I think is critical for the success of a single implementation 
> language is it being open source, which D is.

Technically yes.

But practically, no.  D is not open source.  D is partially open source. 
  Just because there is an out-of-date open source compiler that does 
compile and an up-to-date open source front end that won't compile does 
not make it open source in the sense that matters most, I think.

The sense that matters is the one in which I can do "cvs update -Pd" and 
get the latest complete, working compiler, make changes to it, and 
submit those changes as patches.

It's great that there's an open source D compiler, and I applaud the 
effort of those folks who have gotten it to where it is.  But it really 
should be the MAIN compiler not a sad also-ran huffing and puffing to 
keep up.

I'm pretty sure I could get to the point where I could submit simple 
patches to fix some things here and there in the front end, but frankly 
I have very little interest in spending that time if it's just going to 
serve the purpose of getting an out-of-date compiler a smidge closer to 
where DMD was three months ago.  Maybe not everyone feels that way, but 
I'd be willing to bet a significant number do.  I love new features.  I 
like to get stuff that's hot off the presses.  I have the source code 
for 5 or 6 open source projects on my harddrive right now that I 
sometimes contribute to.

Open source is most motivating when everyone is working together to 
create something new and useful and cutting edge, but it's not so 
exciting when the goal is the re-create that which was new and cutting 
edge last month.  I can only assume that at least some other would-be 
contributors feel the same way.

Anyway, I do applaud you for making so much of D open source.  I think 
it probably wouldn't be going as strong today if you hadn't.  But at the 
same time, you shouldn't have any illusions that DMD's model is 
equivalent to or contains the same magic open source recipe that helped 
Perl or Ruby or Python make it to where they are today.  It's more like 
Java's recipe, but Sun had megabucks with which to force Java down 
everyone's throat despite not being fully open source.

--bb