Is D right for me?

[Gour D.]

On Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:52:22 +0200
>>>>>> "Simen" == "Simen kjaeraas" <simen.kjaras at gmail.com> wrote:

Simen> This is a big problem for D at this point. The language is no
Simen> longer evolving (much), and we're at a point in time where
Simen> libraries and toolchain parts need to be written.

That's nice to hear and it's solvable.

Simen> It will. Latest news (2 days ago) say it's now getting as far as
Simen> main(), which is good.

Great!

Simen> I believe GDC supports ARM.

Hmm, baes on http://dgcc.sourceforge.net/ it looks it is not overly
active?

Simen> There's a list here:
Simen> http://www.wikiservice.at/d/wiki.cgi?DatabaseBindings
Simen> 
Simen> However, most of those are for D1, and a large percentage seem
Simen> to be abandoned.

:-(

Simen> SQLite seems to be well supported, with 7 projects claiming
Simen> support.

Why so many?

Similar to Haskell where one can find bunch of libs doing practically
the same thing, but most of them half-baked.

Simen> I'm sure you can. D also supports programming styles closer to
Simen> those of FP, making such a transition easier (I hope :p)

This is certainly bonus.

Simen> > a) maintainable code
Simen> 
Simen> This is likely a bit subjective, and much more dependent upon the
Simen> programmers themselves than the language used.

I agree. Otoh, afaict, D use modules/packages, so code can be nicely
organized, as well as in Haskell.


Simen> - Contract programming in the form of pre and post contracts for
Simen>    functions[1].
Simen> - Class invariants[2].
Simen> - Built in unit testing[3].
Simen> - Documentation comments[4].
Simen> 
Simen> Of course, other features of D may increase maintainability, but
Simen> those are the ones most directly associated with it.

Not bad.;)

Simen> > b) decent performance
Simen> 
Simen> D is generally as fast as C, though some abstractions of course
Simen> cost more than others.

This is, probably, more than we'd need, but definitely no fear as with
e.g. Python & co.

Simen> > c) higher-level programming and suitable for general
Simen> > programming tasks
Simen> 
Simen> My impression (not having used Haskell), D wins hands down on the
Simen> latter, and is a bit weaker on the former.

Still, I believe, D provides much more comfortable higher-order
experience than C++.

Simen> > d) good library support (database stuff, data structures, Qt
Simen> > GUI...)
Simen> 
Simen> Likely Haskell is better here (as noted above, D has some
Simen> problems in this regard).

Lack of GUI libs for D2 is serious concern atm.

Simen> The bus-factor of D is sadly close to 1. If Walter should choose
Simen> to leave, we have a problem. On the other hand, I don't think a
Simen> mere bus would keep him from continuing the project.

Uhh...this is almost like a showstopper or, at least, very strong
anti-adoption pattern. :-(

It is even worse than Haskell where GHC has bus-factor >=2 and there
are other compilers like uhc, lhc, jhc...there is even Haskell
committee working on Haskell' (prime) standard.

Simen> Here I can't help. I don't know Haskell.

Thanks a lot. It is helpful, although with a little discouraging
end. :-(


Sincerely,
Gour

-- 

Gour  | Hlapicina, Croatia  | GPG key: CDBF17CA
----------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 836 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.puremagic.com/pipermail/digitalmars-d/attachments/20101005/be4c60ff/attachment.pgp>