D-etractions A real world programmers view on D

[Timon Gehr]

On 08/25/2012 08:36 PM, Andrew McKinlay wrote:
>> His post comes down to: "I like to have an IDE and I prefer Java
>> because I already know Java."
>
> Just for the record, I am no particular fan of the Java language - it's
> weak, boring, and often tedious.
> Any "loyalty" to Java that I have is not
> because I already know it,  but because it is a robust, stable,
> performant platform with a rich ecosystem of libraries and tools. I am
> very open to new languages. I learnt Java from scratch several years ago
> for a specific project. Other than that I have primarily used C++. I am
> always looking at language alternatives like Scala, Clojure, Erlang, and D.
>
> You're right that I like to have an IDE. But I think that applies to a
> large percentage of programmers.
>
> I fully admit to being a newbie at D and because of that I may be making
> incorrect judgements.

Oh, I am certainly not claiming that the judgements are incorrect. You
should use whatever works for you.

> However, keep in mind that every newcomer to D
> will be in the same position. If a language scares away newcomers, then
> it will have trouble gaining traction.
>
>> This is perfectly fine of course, but why would this be relevant for D
>> development?
>
> One relevance to D development may be that there are a lot of Java
> developers out there who are a potential source of converts.

Well, Java is a huge platform as well as a language. Furthermore, the
fact that the language feels weak, boring and often tedious is probably
a significant part of the reason it has been successful. I wouldn't
expect many people intimately familiar with the Java platform to
convert to D.

> Right or wrong, they are going to make many of the same comparisons as me.
>

Exactly. What I mean by 'because I already know Java' is, that those
comparisons will naturally be somewhat biased towards what
the developer already knows. It is not really a matter of right or
wrong. A programmer is likely to (attempt to) apply patterns that work
well in a language he is familiar with.

> All the things I mention can (and I'm sure will) be improved - the
> garbage collector, the libraries, the tools, etc.
>
> Just to be clear, I would love to see D be successful.

I think the blog post is entirely reasonable.
I was reacting mostly to Bjoern's statement "IMO a voice, D core
developers should listen to.", whose nature I may have misunderstood.

The point is, I don't think it is lacking on insight which efforts
might be worth following, it is more a matter of having enough
sufficiently skilled people dedicate their limited spare time. ;)