A Perspective on D from game industry

[Walter Bright via Digitalmars-d]

On 6/15/2014 6:12 PM, H. S. Teoh via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> I think you may have missed the fact that your very realization was a
> further development in itself. The term "template" comes from the C++
> idea of having a pre-written piece of code with some blanks in a few
> places, that will be filled in to make the actual code. But the concept
> of "compile-time parameter" is something conceptually different, and
> more powerfully unifying IMO. It digs at the root of C++'s template
> nastiness, which ultimately comes from treating template parameters as
> something fundamentally distinct from function parameters. The ugly
> syntax is but the superficial expression of this underlying difference
> in conception. D's superior template syntax is not merely a better
> dressed syntax; it ultimately stems from treating template parameters as
> being the *same* thing as function parameters -- except they are
> evaluated at compile-time rather than runtime.
>
> This insight therefore causes D's templates to mesh very nicely with
> CTFE to form a beautifully-integrated whole.

I like the way you think. Can I subscribe to your newsletter? :-)


> I like how TDPL introduces templates by not introducing them at all, but
> just talks about compile-time arguments. By the time the reader gets to
> the chapter on templates, he's already been using them comfortably.

Our eevil plan at work!


> But on that note, perhaps it's not altogether a bad thing for the word
> "template" to have a negative connotation; perhaps we should be pushing
> the term "compile-time parameter" instead. It engenders an IMO superior
> way of thinking about these things that may help newcomers overcome the
> fear of metaprogramming.

!