OT (partially): about promotion of integers

[Han]

SomeDude wrote:
> On Wednesday, 12 December 2012 at 08:04:07 UTC, Han wrote:
>> Walter Bright wrote:
>>> On 12/11/2012 10:35 PM, Han wrote:
>>>> Walter Bright wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'm interested in crafting D to be a language that people
>>>>> will like
>>>>> and use.
>>>>
>>>> Does that statement, then, represent a change in direction
>>>> for the D
>>>> project? How long will this "crafting" take? Has this
>>>> "crafting" been
>>>> already going on now for a decade? More than a decade? I'm
>>>> new here
>>>> and would like to hear it "from the horse's mouth", so people,
>>>> please let Walter answer first.
>>>
>>> All languages in active use undergo continuous improvement by
>>> their
>>> developers. Ones that don't are called dead languages.
>>
>> So you are skirting the issue then, or going to come back and
>> post a real
>> answer after you think about it some more? Has the "crafting"
>> toward "to be
>> a language that people will like and use" been going on from
>> the start, or
>> is that a new direction? Define "people": who is the target
>> user of D, who
>> has been and is the target changing now? What about the time
>> thing? Perhaps
>> you should just repost the link to the historical/future
>> roadmap/timeline
>> for that.
>>
>> Further down in this discussion thread, I just posted more on
>> this same
>> topic for your consideration. I think "prospectus" is the term
>> I am looking
>> for: what a better time than the last month of the year to do
>> that!
>
> Who are you ?

Han The Great, from the Orient, of course!

> You are new here and you speak with an aggressive
> tone, like Walter owes you something.

Opinions vary. Walter knows exactly what I am talking about. I do believe he
inadvertently summed up the D project: wandering [aimlessly]. 30 years yet
before "The Promised Land" is in sight apparently.
(A little facetious maybe, but if the shoe fits...).

> What exactly makes you
> think Walter or anyone else owes you what you want ?

So you are defending aimless wandering as a valid project method/process? To
me, it seems that the D project needs direction and management after
thorough REVIEW. It seems to be stuck in an endless cycle of day-to-day
going-nowhere-fastness. From what I gather, D2 is going to be a non-starter
as much as D1 was. D3 will surely get even farther out of grasp. Farther and
farther away until all that is left but some mythical "god" to which
followers will be told by the priests, "have faith!".

>
> I am sure people here are interested in seeing your own language

If I started one today, and had the ("limitless") resources, I'd have
something more useable than D in short order for sure (don't dare me). I
would get it done in a year because I would define the scope to be such that
it could be completed in a year. If that means just one platform, so be
it -- there is always the year after to target other/another platform(s) and
APPLICATION DOMAINS.

> or open source project and how you manage its development. I will
> be glad to see the timeline and direction you give to it.

I think I am beyond giving direction to "competitors" and if I'm going to
direct a language product/project, I will own it, use it to build software,
market it to USERS. I don't think I will do that though, without clearly
having equivalent resources, for else I would be doing the research and
development, only to have it stolen by the free riders. What is the
solution? Patents, I think, but that takes an enormous budget. That's how I
view the state of affairs in industry and government these days: an
environment where innovation is, and has been, stifled.

If I can get the backing to pursue the patents, and that means a lot of
effort making those patents solid and not just something for the next guy to
improve upon slightly and free-riding on the concepts, I think that is the
only way to go, because else I think the risk is too great of losing all my
effort to date for something like "a paycheck" or even worse, "the golden
boys" capitalizing on it via you follower-types, or the "entitled set", who
spew "freedom!" at every rape and pillage, cancerously devouring it -- f*ck
that.