GCC 4.6

[Iain Buclaw]

== Quote from Emil Madsen (sovende at gmail.com)'s article
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> On 25 November 2010 01:15, Iain Buclaw <ibuclaw at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> > == Quote from Emil Madsen (sovende at gmail.com)'s article
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> > > On 25 November 2010 00:25, Walter Bright <newshound2 at digitalmars.com>
> > wrote:
> > > > Emil Madsen wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> And yea, bearophile brings up a lot of nice features, and Walter would
> > > >> never have a chance to implement all of them himself, which might be
> > good,
> > > >> if everything bearophile suggests got into the language, we would have
> > this
> > > >> major language noone would ever be able to learn, nor use. However, if
> > we
> > > >> succeed in implementing the best ideas I do think we'll end up with a
> > superb
> > > >> output, however I do think we need to discuss a lot of issues and
> > features,
> > > >> and thats why I love bearophiles postings, simply because it gives the
> > > >> community a lot to discuss.
> > > >>
> > > >> Just my opinion. - But I do think discussing a lot of features, even
> > the
> > > >> ones not really related, will help out the language in the end.
> > > >>
> > > >
> > > > I think bearophile does a valuable service to us by bringing up
> > discussion
> > > > topics.
> > > >
> > > > My gripe is when he lists things that he wishes D did when D already
> > does
> > > > them and has for years. Case in point: D imports. It's irksome when he
> > often
> > > > writes from the perspective of assuming that D does it wrong while
> > other
> > > > languages are assumed to do it right. Case in point: design by
> > contract, and
> > > > his assumption that dmd was a primitive compiler that did not do data
> > flow
> > > > analysis while praising llvm's.
> > > >
> > > > My concern about that is that with the volume of his posts, I will miss
> > > > some of them, and people inexperienced with D will presume those
> > mistakes
> > > > and misunderstandings are correct.
> > > >
> > > > I have no issue at all with bringing up factual shortcomings of D, even
> > > > when I disagree about whether they are actual shortcomings or not. For
> > > > example, it is a fact that D does not check for integer arithmetic
> > overflow.
> > > > Whether that's a problem or not is a fine topic for discussion.
> > > >
> > > Well I must agree with you, atleast on the part, about how he sometimes
> > > seems negative about what dmd does. - And that tune, is obviously not
> > nice
> > > towards you, as your the one doing the hard work, but lets just try to
> > > remember, that bearophile just wants D to be the best, eh?
> > > What really is an issue for me currently, is that the mailing list seems
> > > like its going a tad into war, that is between you and bearophile
> > sometimes;
> > > wheres you should instead be joining forces. - As it seems to me, D got
> > > about the best compiler writer out there, and one of the best feature
> > > requester/discusser :).
> > > And I can understand you concerns, about how newcomers to D, might react
> > > reading about all of these things bearophile complains about, and wants
> > to
> > > change/add.
> > > - Just curious, how much of your time do you spend on reading this
> > mailing
> > > list a day?
> > > (Excuse my somewhat bad english tonight (its 3am))
> >
> > He's started peeking an interest at GDC too, which was both amusing and
> > heartening
> > to see. I don't honestly think any of his comments can really be seen as
> > complaints. As has already been echoed, most are very informative, he
> > always seems
> > to pick up on things you don't commonly think about. Then again, I can see
> > it can
> > get a bit tiring how he almost always starts off with "Language/Compiler
> > <Y> does
> > <Feature X>", then goes on to explain that yours doesn't. This is where I
> > see
> > myself going terse over things very quickly.
> >
> > I think you wrongly see things as war-like. It's all really just healthy
> > discussion and competition.
> >
> Sure it can get tiring when hes like saying 'Language/Compiler <Y>
> does<Feature X>', but while he does so, he also brings up a discussion
> whether its something to add or not. - And I must say, a lot of the features
> he points out in other language seem like good things :) - however pointing
> it out, and being like; 'Why doesn't D do this?', might not be the right
> tune, where it should be; 'Would it be an idea if D did this?', and I can
> understand why the first tune might seem a tad hard on people like Walter,
> when it already does.

To paraphrase a famous that best describes my view of things when it comes to
features:

‎``Perfection (in design) is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but
rather when there is nothing more to take away.''

Regards