Is the world coming to an end?

[Ulrik Mikaelsson]

2011/4/3 Walter Bright <newshound2 at digitalmars.com>:
>
> The 0x notation is heavily used, and so justifies a custom syntax for it.
> Octal is pretty much never used outside of setting file permission masks.

The thing is, since you already have 0x and 0b, 0o would not be much
of a "custom syntax". It would simply be an "extrapolation of the
rule". It follows the already set pattern for non 10-base literals.

Regarding the "but it's so uncommon"-argument, there are 23 characters
left for the "0<base-char>"-notation, there isn't exactly an
allocation-problem.

> A feature that can be handled adequately by the library should not be part of the core language.
If you're looking for uncommonly used language-features that could
easily be otherwise solved, go ahead and remove asm instead. I'll
guess it's about as uncommon as octal literals (or maybe even more),
have simple other solution (just compile it separately and link), and
has much greater impact on the language and the compiler.

I simply don't buy the "uncommon" argument, when it's such a minuscule
thing in the language, following an already established
framework/pattern.

> The phrase "discriminating against people" has a lot of emotional baggage associated with it that is irrelevant to this.
Walter, you can make the decisions you see fit, you are the BDFL, but
please don't dismiss peoples feelings like this. It will only hinder D
longevity and growth.

I realize the discussion is over, and the feature has been
implemented. Bitching and moaning now won't change anybodys mind, but
for the record, I think this is a bad design-move, breaking
established patterns. I agree it minuscule and seldom used, so I'm not
going to continue the discussion.