dget - getting code from github

[Walter Bright]

On 5/23/2012 9:39 PM, David Nadlinger wrote:
> On Wednesday, 23 May 2012 at 23:14:19 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
>> Currently, getting D code from github is a multistep process, that isn't
>> always obvious. I propose the creation of a dget program, which will:
>>
>> dget https://github.com/D-Programming-Deimos/libevent
>>
>> download the libevent code and install it in a subdirectory named libevent.
>
> What are you referring to as installation? Just retrieving the source into a
> »libevent« subdirectory is hardly a multi-step process:
>
> git clone https://github.com/D-Programming-Deimos/libevent

Pretty much that. However, this requires that the user install git first. dget 
is all about reducing friction. dget can also be extended to get things from 
other repositories without changing the user interface, and it can have a 
builtin mapping of library=>url for popular packages.

For an analogy, if I wanted to check the documentation for std.algorithm, I 
could of course fire up the browser and type:

     http://dlang.org/phobos/std_algorithm.html

in the address bar. Or, I could write:

     dman std.algorithm

and I'm there. And I can type:

     dman link

and the web page for http://www.digitalmars.com/ctg/optlink.html opens up. It's 
all about reducing the friction. I am often surprised at how simple things like 
this turn out to be tipping points for users (and myself).