D, Java? To D or not to D?

[Bruno Medeiros]

Don Clugston wrote:
> TPJ wrote:
>> I decided to start with a simple statement: with this post I don't 
>> intend to
>> start any flamewar. I'm definitely not a Java zealot, OS zealot, I'm 
>> not a
>> zealot at all. I'm just a programmer who seeks for future technologies 
>> today.
>> I'm doing it because I find investing in future technologies today very
>> profitable. Of course only in case of really good technologies...
>>
>> I'm a freelancer programmer. I work under a GNU/Linux box and I'm 
>> interested
>> in development of portable desktop apps (*nices, Windows, MacOSX, perhaps
>> other OSes in the future) and games (the same OSes, plus mobile phones).
>>
>> A few years ago I switched from C/C++ to Python. The reason was 
>> simple: I was
>> fed up with low-level development in C/C++, and I was impressed by 
>> high-level
>> development in Python. All I did in C/C++ could be done in Python with 
>> one
>> significant difference: code was written much, much faster.
>>
>> Now, after several years of using Python, I decided to switch from 
>> Python to
>> Java. The reason is simple. Sometimes Python is too slow for my needs. Of
>> course, I can use C in those cases. But using C means using another 
>> language
>> and development becomes more complicated. In fact, I started to use 
>> Pyrex as
>> well... Three different tools, no documentation standard for all of 
>> them...
>> The hell.
> 
> [snip]
>> So I ask myself a question today: should I invest in learning D? Is it 
>> worth
>> my efforts?
> 
> It's the libraries.
> The thing C# really has going for it is the .NET libraries. Likewise 
> Java. Their libraries are extensive, and were developed with massive 
> budgets.
> Right now, D cannot compete with those libraries. We got nothin'.
> 

I would say that the toolchain (like the IDEs) also plays a big factor 
for Java and C#, not just the libraries. Especially for C#, where the 
Visual Studio GUI designer has allways been a great boon for .NET 
languages.

-- 
Bruno Medeiros - MSc in CS/E student
http://www.prowiki.org/wiki4d/wiki.cgi?BrunoMedeiros#D