What can you "new"

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

Don wrote:
> Cristian Vlasceanu wrote:
>> Hm... how should I put it nicely... wait, I guess I can't: if you guys 
>> think D is a systems language, you are smelling your own farts!
>>
>> Because 1) GC magic and deterministic system level behavior are not 
>> exactly good friends, and 2) YOU DO NOT HAVE A SYSTEMS PROBLEM TO 
>> SOLVE. C was invented to write an OS in a portable fashion. Now that's 
>> a systems language. Unless you are designing the next uber OS, D is a 
>> solution in search of a problem, ergo not a systems language (sorry 
>> Walter). It is a great application language though, and if people 
>> really need custom allocation schemes, then they can write that part 
>> in C/C++ or even assembler (and I guess you can provide a custom 
>> run-time too, if you really DO HAVE a systems problem to address -- 
>> like developing for an embedded platform).
> 
> You're equating "systems language" with "language intended for writing a 
> complete operating system". That's not what's intended.
> AFAIK there are no operating systems written solely in C++.
> Probably, D being a "systems language" actually means "D is competing 
> with C++".

I'm surprised at how many people misunderstand the "systems language" or 
"systems-level programming" terms. Only a couple of months ago, a good 
friend whom I thought would know a lot better, mentioned that he thought 
a "systems-level language" is one that can be used to build large systems.

Andrei