[off-topic] Sony releases PS Vita SDK

[Paulo Pinto]

Well, C# can also be real systems programming language, see Singularity.
And native code compilers are also available (Bartok, Mono AOT, NGEN).

D names itself a system programming language, but I am yet to see any OS
coded on it. Without system programming examples, it becomes just another
application level language.

On the other hand I confess this is a very hard task, as most of systems 
programming
languages that manage to exist as such (PL/I, Ada, C, C++, Mac Pascal), did 
so because
there was an OS vendor that made use of them.

Now that I mention this, does anyone know if D is being used as research
language in any operating system department in some university? I remember
there were some posts about it long time ago.

What I see going for D in terms of language features:

- scope
- compile time metaprogramming
- mixin as a kind of macro mechanism
- inline assembler (this one might be a bit debatable)
- delegation via subtyping
- all available implementations compile straight to native code

--
Paulo


"Nick Sabalausky"  wrote in message news:jmpphn$20s9$1 at digitalmars.com...

"Paulo Pinto" <pjmlp at progtools.org> wrote in message
news:jmpl39$1oa1$1 at digitalmars.com...
> Hi,
>
> just wanted to announce that Sony has finally made the new Playstation
> Vita SDK available, as we were discussing some months ago.
>
> http://www.playstation.com/pss/index_e.html
>
> The gamming industry seems to be slowing moving to C#. Would we still
> be able to convince developers to move to D instead?
>

Yes. I suspect that the movement to C# is somewhat of a compromise due to
the fact that C/C++ has been the *only* real systems language usable for
most gaming systems. Obviously, something better than C++ is needed, and
thanks to the moronic VM/interpreted obsessions from the last decade or so
that rendered most new languages impotent, there was no real alternative to
C++. So, I suspect, that's why they made the compromise of going with C#.

But D is *real* systems language, unlike C#. And frankly, it beats the snot
out of C#. I'm not just saying that subjectively as D fan: Five years ago
(if not less) I considered C# and D tied as my favorite languages. But the
more I used both, the more I got fed up with C#'s dumb limitations and MS's
disinterest in addressing them, and the more I liked D.

If D can't be made to attract game devs away from C++/C#, then I'll loose
what little faith I have left in mainstream games development.