What does C++ do better than D? - StackOverflow.com

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

On 08/02/2011 07:26 AM, Peter Alexander wrote:
> Here's the thing: Unless you're developing a D compiler, there's no
> difference between a QoI issue and a language design issue. An
> issue is an issue, whether the fix is to change the design or to
> change the compiler.
>
> In my opinion, there's very little point in discussing a language's
> merit without discussing the tools. A design without an
> implementation has no worth. As Steve Yegge likes to say, a
> language's popularity is all about the tools.

Fair point. It's just good to to use the right terminology. Otherwise if 
you say "bad design" that's forever. "Insufficient implementation" is 
transitory.

> What's more constructive? Judging a language based on the Digital
> Mars Hypothetical Future D compiler, or based on DMD, GDC and LDC?
>
> What's the point of saying that a language has no flaws, but there
> are no implementations of that language?

Probably the worse mistake is saying that the language has a flaw 
because its implementation has one.


Andrei