Games people play

[Sean Kelly]

Lutger wrote:
> 
> If game developers are to move to a different language than C++, this 
> has to be better, not the same. In this light, C# may look more 
> favorably to some (indie at least, who don't need to port to all 
> platforms). More lightweight, more tools, libraries, company support. I 
> think if you want to attract game developers, you will have to compete 
> with C# not C++.

For Microsoft platforms I very much agree.  Though that leaves Sony, 
Nintendo, and Apple as potential target vendors where C# is unlikely to 
be supported.  Cellphones and such as a possibility as well, though 
there D would be competing with Java.

> I'm willing to bet most sane C++ developers are already 
> convinced they want to switch language if migration costs permit it.

Another big issue is support tools.  Without solid debug tool support, D 
will be a hard sell to most companies.

> I don't know if not using features is a valid option, because it's based 
> on the premise that it's understood already how exactly they will 
> interact with other features, and that 3rd party libraries will not use 
> them. Even if this is so, it does increase complexity of development.
> 
> Is this viable in a project with, say, half a million lines of code?

It's not like this is a new problem.  Until just a few years ago, most 
popular C++ compilers were pretty finicky.  In fact I could time on a 
stopwatch how long it would take me to crash VC6, and VC6 is still used 
for a lot of projects.


Sean