Real World usage of D, Today (was Re: challenge #2: implement the varargs_reduce metafunction)

[kris]

Andrei Alexandrescu (See Website For Email) wrote:
[snip]

> It's really easy. I can't right now disclose all of my agenda for 
> objective reasons (I will do it later), but the gist of the matter is 
> simple:
> 
> 1. There are some simple tests for a language gaging very precisely the 
> power of that language
> 
> 2. I want D to pass those tests
> 
> 3. I want to increase community's awareness of the importance of those 
> tests for larger use cases, as well as gather ideas from the community 
> about how to overcome D's shortcomings in passing the tests.

That's great, Andrei. And I, for one, truly want to see some of those 
changes happen (such as read-only arrays, covered by the const you talk of).

However, there are also some rather pressing matters of fixing stuff 
that is simply broken, and is hampering attempts to build real, live, 
useful apps at this time. Yeah, new features are sexy cool, and fixing 
long-standing issues ain't.

How about taking a long hard look at what sucks in D right now, and 
making those a primary priority? Having read many of your posts since 
yesterday, it seems you've identified a number of those. Great! Yet, you 
guys are apparently pressing ahead with wonderful new stuff instead? 
Like, for instance, an updated GC? When did that ever top the list of 
real-world issues for D?

To anticipate a question:

There's some serious issues with templates in libs (you really can't put 
them there successfully), some serious issues with debuggers not being 
able to locate source-files for templates; lots of problems related to 
real-world, end-user, /usability/ of the language on a daily basis.

I submit that such issues are just as important a test to pass than the 
ones you allude to. Dare I say, perhaps more so for people actually 
using the language right now?

Regards;

- Kris