SDC needs you -- redux

[deadalnix via Digitalmars-d]

On Monday, 20 April 2015 at 22:40:11 UTC, Brian Schott wrote:
> On Sunday, 19 April 2015 at 06:01:14 UTC, weaselcat wrote:
>> gofmt, much like python's standardized formatting, made 
>> contributing to go projects much easier IMO. While the same 
>> can't be done for D, hopefully dfmt becomes a standard tool 
>> and each dub project can just include a dfmt.conf or something 
>> to make contributing easier.
>
> dfmt options go in .editorconfig with the rest of your 
> project's style decisions like tabs/spaces and line length.
>
>> I agree with the OP on the tooling point, just look at C++. 
>> C++ had historically zero(okay, some - but it sucked! ctags 
>> were awful, etc.) tooling before clang hit the scene. IMO 
>> clang/LLVM was a complete game changer for C++ tooling, and I 
>> hope D can do the same.
>
> For what it's worth, D-Scanner can output ctags information for 
> D files.
>
>> Clang has a static analyzer, a formatter, a modernizer...
>> Hell, clang(and obv. libclang) can dump the AST right from its 
>> driver, and even has autocompletion built into 
>> it(-code-completion-at)
>
> We now have a formatter. D-Scanner can perform some static 
> analysis and dump an AST from its parser, DCD provides 
> autocompletion. dfix can perform syntax upgrades.

I think your work is very valuable, but SDC is still necessary. D 
a very meta programming language, which makes having a fully 
featured front end necessary for various tooling.

Your approach certainly yield result faster, and is sufficient 
for some tooling. I see your work and SDC as complementary rather 
than stepping on each other. This is why I put tools like REPL or 
test runner in the list rather than tools like formatting, which 
you approach can already provide.