Another Transitive const solution

Georg Wrede georg at nospam.org
Thu Apr 10 21:05:52 PDT 2008


Hans W. Uhlig wrote:
> Jarrett Billingsley wrote:
> 
>> "Alex Burton" <alexibu at mac.com> wrote in message 
>> news:ftjfrg$24lu$1 at digitalmars.com...
>>
>>> Jarrett Billingsley Wrote:
>>>
>>>> "Alex Burton" <alexibu at mac.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:fti5dd$8h7$1 at digitalmars.com...
>>>>
>>>>> I wonder how many lurkers like me are waiting for D 2.0s const 
>>>>> system to be
>>>>> sorted out so that we can start using it.
>>>>> Experience shows that const is viral and you are either using it or 
>>>>> not
>>>>> using it, and if libraries are using it, then you have to use it or 
>>>>> you
>>>>> can't use the libraries.
>>>>> So I am not going to write a bunch of D 1.0 code until D 2.0's 
>>>>> transitive
>>>>> const is fixed.
>>>>
>>>> What?  What does constness in D2 have anything to do with D1?
>>>>
>>> Knowing that fundamental changes to the language will come in the 
>>> next version makes me hesitant to start writing lots of code in D1.
>>>
>>
>> The entire reason for making D1 _D1_ was so that people _would_ start 
>> using it.  It strikes me as very odd that the exact opposite seems to 
>> have happened.  You're not the only one to come to this decision.
>>
>> Personally I won't even consider D2 until it's frozen.  Furthermore 
>> just because you write code in D1 doesn't mean you'll _have_ to start 
>> using D2.
>>
> 
> I think this idea comes out of the same mindset as Java. You don't want 
> to use something you know is going to be deprecated so soon down the 
> road. Since D2.0 is an evolution of the product rather then a new 
> language it is seen as the next version, why write something that wont 
> work with the next version when you can write it for that version. I 
> think its simply the fact that D2 isn't backwards compatible for a good 
> chunk of things. Porting might end up being a bigger pain then simply 
> waiting is.
> 
> I look forward to a lot of the changes in parallel processing and 
> library support coming for D2 and am waiting to start a few projects 
> until D2.0s feature set is frozen, till then I merely putter.

But nobody knows when that'll happen!

It might be months, but it might as well be late /next/ year.

And if you do regular (as in just normal) programmin in D1, chances that 
you'd have to work hard to later port it to D2 are small. Most of the 
things in D1 aren't going to change anyway. There'll mostly be just more 
things to the language.

Of course, some people don't buy a new cellular phone because next year 
you get a twice cooler one for half the price. Or they don't buy a new 
computer "because they're getting cheaper and stronger all the time, so 
for every month I push back buying one, I actually earn money".

You might as well skip waiting alltogether, because (as with any 
programming language) the day /will/ come when D is obsolete.

But then you shouldn't marry either, because one day she'll either 
divorce you or die.

In reality, you might get a lot of things done in D1 while waiting, and 
possibly even enjoy both the programming, and the results of it.



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