Python vs D [ was Re: Bartosz about Chapel ]

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

On 11/10/11 9:06 PM, Caligo wrote:
> If D fails, it's not because of lack of money or marketing, but because
> of lack of a healthy and growing community.  A healthy community is what
> all successful open source projects have in common.  Moving to Github
> was a step in the right direction, but it's not enough, and the people
> in charge don't seem to have a clue as to how to build a community.  How
> many new developers have joined the development of D/Phobos in the last
> year?

Probably more than in any other year, particularly if you factor in 
their respective productivity. We have a process in place for reviewing 
and voting standard library components, which has worked quite well. 
Community participation has increased by leaps and bounds. Only dmd has 
enjoyed 506 pull requests in less than 10 months. That's an average of 
1.7 per calendar day before counting Walter's own contributions. Phobos 
is trailing close with 323 pull requests in the same amount of time.

I'd be the first to admit that a lot more is needed and that the 
existing progress didn't happen because of some good leadership, but 
Walter and I are recognizing we need to increasingly take the role of 
organizers and we plan to make some significant moves soon.

> I bet very few.  They haven't even fixed the link to that old
> site, and it's been like that for far too long.

What link?

> Where is "D/Phobos Developer's Guide" page?

I hope we'll have that soon, among other articles and papers. I'm not 
even sure that particular one is among the most important documents to 
have. Good articles are very important for publicizing D and attracting 
new users, and we don't have yet a culture that nourishes publishing.


Andrei