OSNews article about C++09 degenerates into C++ vs. D discussion

Walter Bright newshound at digitalmars.com
Wed Nov 22 02:45:00 PST 2006


John Reimer wrote:
>> Wow that was long, but good, make it an article, Walter?

I think it is good material for an article.

> Concerning D and GC:
> 
> The problem is that most D apologists /DO/ advertise D as having the 
> best of both worlds when it comes to memory management, but C++ fans are 
> bound and determined to see D as practically a GC-only language: the GC 
> is one of the first points they always bring up.  They keep seeing it in 
> the same light as Java and other such languages.  It's unfair and 
> short-sited, but a typical response.


A common misconception that people have against D is that since D has 
core arrays, strings, and complex numbers, that therefore it is not 
possible to create user defined types in the library. They'll say things 
like "I prefer to use C++ because I can create my own types!" I 
patiently explain that this is not so, that there is nothing stopping 
one from creating their own user defined D types. And then they come 
back a week, a month later and repeat the same misinformation. Sigh.


 > If you really take an honest look at OSNEWS posts and others, you will
 > realize that some of these people are literally annoyed at D and D
 > promoters for a reason deeper and unrelated to the language.  You can't
 > argue with that.  Some good considerations, like Steve's, just doesn't
 > hit home with those boys.

That's to be expected. Many people have bet their careers on C++ being 
the greatest ever, and nothing can change their mind. D is a personal 
affront to them. It doesn't really matter, though, because if you attend 
a C++ conference, take a look around. They're old (my age <g>). Someone 
once did a survey of the ages of D adopters, and found out they are 
dominated by much younger folks.

And that, my friends, is why D is the future.



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