newbie - hey walter, improvement potentials for installer

[Alf P. Steinbach]

Hi

I just installed D 2.x.


    * Improvement potential #1  --  installer description.

It was not clear to me that the first download is a full offline 
installer. In ignorance I used the one that downloads from web. The web 
page can possibly be mucho improved! :-)


    * Improvement potential #2  --  Start menu link to help file.

It didn't work. Sorry I didn't check where it pointed, but it started 
searching for some [index.html]. I found that file by manual searching, 
plugged it in manual in the search that the link brought up, and all's 
well that ends well, but this is DEFINITELY an improvement opportunity!


    * Improvement potential #3  --  Linker executable name.

The name [link.exe] conflicts with Microsoft's linker. Please name it 
[optlink.exe]. I just renamed it and fixed the options file, but this is 
not just an improvement opportunity, it's more on the MUST end of the 
scale: it is very impractical to have such a needless name clash.


    * Improvement potential #4  --  Standard options for tools.

Why have "-quiet" for the compiler and "-nologo" for the linker? 
Standardizing options across the toolset is a very nice improvement 
opportunity. Also, it would be nice if the linker refrained from 
reporting all about itself when it encounters an error.


   * Improvement potential #5  --  The description of Windows prog.

Following main site's links to 
[http://d-programming-language.org/windows.html], I found a real 
monstrosity as an example of purportedly simplest possible Windows GUI 
program. It's almost funny. Here is mine:

<code>
     import std.c.windows.windows;

     void main()
     {
         MessageBoxW( null, "Text", "Caption", MB_OK | MB_ICONINFORMATION );
     }
</code>


And here is how I built it:


<example>
[d:\dev\test\d]
 > dmd minimal_gui.d -L-subsystem:windows

[d:\dev\test\d]
 > dumpbin /headers minimal_gui.exe | find /i "sub"
             3.10 subsystem version
                2 subsystem (Windows GUI)

[d:\dev\test\d]
 > minimal.d
</example>


Maybe with DMD tools something potentially bad happens here. However, 
with extant C++ compilers (and even old Borland C++ 5.5) this way of 
doing things works splendidly. So here is a definite improvement 
potential for the web site page with the monstrous code, and if the 
current tools don't handle it well, also for the the toolset. :-)


Cheers & hth.,

- Alf (at very beginning of checking out the D language)