concepts and interfaces

[James Dennett]

Craig Black wrote:
> This may sound a little retarded, but wouldn't making concepts obligatory 
> make generic programming more complex and hence more difficult?  In my 
> opinion this may do more harm than good.  A huge appeal of generic stuff in 
> D is that it's easier to work with than the C++ stuff.  More powerful, yes, 
> but also easier.  IMO this is very important.

Concepts appear to make generic programming simpler and
hence easier, with more meaningful diagnostics.

> On the other hand, this increased complexity is a burden only on the one who 
> is developing the generic library. 

Developers of generic libraries also tend to use a lot
of generic code; they benefit from the checking as well
as being the ones who provide that benefit to downstream
users.

> It's appeal is that it makes life easier 
> for the developer that uses the generic library because that developer gets 
> more intelligent error messages.  This makes generic libraries more 
> attractive to the average developer.

And for library writers too.

> While I'm not opposed to these features, they don't make me terribly 
> excited.  With all the other features on the queue, I don't forsee anything 
> like this getting into D.

But what about keeping up with the Joneses? ;)

-- James