Pathing in the D ecosystem is generally broken (at least on windows)

[Manu via Digitalmars-d]

On 26 September 2015 at 14:24, anon via Digitalmars-d
<digitalmars-d at puremagic.com> wrote:
> On Saturday, 26 September 2015 at 01:37:57 UTC, Manu wrote:
>>
>> On 25 September 2015 at 22:17, Kagamin via Digitalmars-d
>> <digitalmars-d at puremagic.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> [...]
>>
>>
>> This is because I am constantly introducing new users to D, and even
>> more important when those users are colleagues in my workplace.
>> If I talk about how cool D is, then point them at the website where
>> they proceed to download and install the compiler, and their
>> experience is immediately hindered by difficulty to configure within
>> seconds of exposure, this paints a bad first impression, and
>> frustratingly, it also reflects badly on *me* for recommending it;
>> they're mostly convinced I'm some ridiculous fanboy (they're probably
>> right). This is based exclusively on their experience and
>> first-impressions. These basic things really matter!
>>
>> Understand; people with no vested interest in D, and likely some
>> long-term resistance to every new trend in the software world jumping
>> up and down fighting for their attention (which includes fanboys like
>> me!), will not be impressed unless the experience is efficient and
>> relatively seamless.
>> I'm talking about appealing to potential end-users, not enthusiasts.
>> My experience is, over and over again, for years now, that these tiny
>> little things **REALLY MATTER**, more than literally anything else. If
>> they're turned away by first impressions, then literally nothing else
>> matters, and you rarely get a second chance; people don't tend to
>> revisit something they've written off in the past.
>
>
> They just don't care. This is what I think when I read this. If it's not the
> setup it would be something else. They would find something else to mask
> their uninterest. Human beings are talented at lying to themselves.
>
> They're just not honest enough with themselves, it's that simple. Don't be
> so gullible and try to understand what's behind the excuses !

I don't think that's true at all. Humans are very susceptible to first
impressions. It's all about presentation, getting them excited, and
maintaining that excitement for some relatively short period of time,
like, half an hour... as opposed to the first 3 minutes where it may
have been rejected on initial contact. If people spend enough time
that they start to feel invested, they're on the hook.
In the case of D, they need to feel it's solid, and they need to feel
cool and productive writing their first few lines. In my experience,
it does well to have them perform some task that is a classic
frustration in their 'native' language. For C++ users, I often get
people to write 'static if', that's usually all it takes ;)
What has proven to be very important to me, is that they be able to
complete their first experimental task, whatever it is, painlessly,
without ecosystem problems. I lost my boss at this step, because I
suggested he look into vibe.d to do a simple webserver (websockets).
He experienced problems, and it's practically impossible to debug
exceptions (using VisualD, at the time), and that was enough to send
him packing. If he did successfully complete that task, I'm certain my
company would be using D today.

I believe expanding the D user base in 2015 is mostly about psychology
and advertising. D is pretty good technically these days.