Biggest Issue with D - Definition and Versioning

[Nick Sabalausky]

"Nick Sabalausky" <a at a.a> wrote in message 
news:jf0au6$12jv$1 at digitalmars.com...
> "Alex Rønne Petersen" <xtzgzorex at gmail.com> wrote in message 
> news:jevgk4$2nq3$1 at digitalmars.com...
>> .
>> And yet, D's situation on Windows, the main gaming platform, is less than 
>> ideal. If we're really going to cater to game devs, we need to fix the 
>> entire Windows situation long before adding SIMD, IMHO.
>>
>> That being said, I do agree that D is a great language for game dev. It's 
>> really just the Windows tool chain that's in a rather bad state.
>>
>
> I'm on windows, and I think it's good enough. Yes, it *is* definitely a 
> problem for new D users, but all the OMF/COFF stuff *does* have viable 
> workarounds, so it's not exactly a dealbreaking issue.
>

Of course, I don't mean to say the windows toolchain is perfectly ok as-is, 
or that it doesn't have big issues that do need to be resolved (prefereably 
sooner than later). I'm just saying it isn't a blocking matter. Critical, 
maybe, but not blocking.

Oh, and Windows is the main *desktop* gaming platform. Not so sure about 
"main gaming platform" as desktop gaming itself is mostly (I said "mostly", 
not "entirely") limited to PopCap-grannies and a vocal-but-minority group of 
kids who sink hundreds of dollars into their overpowered rigs every year (I 
would know - I used to be one of them (the kids, not the grannies ;) ) until 
I grew up).

Although, with all the non-desktop gaming platforms, D's toolchain may 
actually be *worse* on than on windows. *That* needs to be fixed - much 
moreso than the windows issues, IMO. Hell, even with non-gaming, can D 
currently be used on mobile at all? These are exactly the sorts of platforms 
where D really fits *best*. These systems have limited langauge options and 
high requirements for a good langauge - desktop and web people (like me :/ ) 
already have five gazillion languages.