Hello .NET, D Here Calling

[Steven Schveighoffer]

"bearophile" wrote
> - But is the dotnet able to support all things D supports? For example can 
> you implement unions? Inline Asm code? How about the interface with 
> compiled C code? Etc.

C++.net works just fine, and supports unions, etc.  Anything that C++ 
supports.  The difference is that you mark code that can be compiled into 
CLR and code that cannot. This provides a somewhat simple bridge between 
.NET and standard C functions.  Most likely, D.net would be the same way.

Asking if .net can support everything that D does is like asking if C can 
support everything that D does.  You can call C functions from D, even write 
D functions that are callable from C, but you don't write D code in C.

> - One of the advantages of D, that is it produces true compiled 
> executables, is lost here.

> - I think performance on dotnet can be good enough for most programs, but 
> a good C++-grade compiler like LLVM (LDC) can sometimes give even more 
> running speed.

What is the advantage you see here?  Visual studio produces .exe files from 
my C# projects, which run just like normal executables.  They perform just 
as well as C++ programs as far as I can tell.  As far as I'm concerned, they 
*are* compiled executables.  Who cares if they are morphed into native 
binary code when I run them?

> - C# is not that far from D, and it has several advantages (named 
> arguments, better lambda, is much more widely used, more built-in 
> reflection, LINQ, a way to support duck typing, run-time compilation of 
> code, etc etc), so how can D compete with C#? While I can see how normal 
> compiled D may compete with C# in some lower level niche, I don't see yet 
> how D.net may compete with C#. What has D# to offer over C#? Maybe 
> nothing?

I think D's syntax is far superior to C# (save some C# features such as 
properties).  However, I do see issues with how to make D conform to .net 
without affecting the syntax benefits.  For example, how do you call .net 
functions with D arrays?  .net arrays are classes, whereas D arrays are 
structs.  If you have to use .net arrays instead of D arrays in order to use 
D.net, that would be a deal-killer for me.

-Steve