Usability of D on windows?

[kink via Digitalmars-d]

> I managed to find and install LDC, and that mostly, somewhat 
> works.
> 
> Except that half the time the compiler crashes with a stack 
> trace, and sometimes it just hangs. Occasionally if I move and 
> rearrange the code it will manage to compile it. There are also 
> worrying comments on the LDC web page about how "Most programs 
> work just fine" and "Several unit tests still fail" and stuff 
> about it relying on stuff from visual c++ in order to work that 
> make me seriously doubt it's stability and correctness.

The times when Windows wasn't a first class target for LDC are 
over. We've got Windows CI for a year now, so there should be no 
severe Windows-specific bugs (all unittests and the LDC-specific 
set of DMD tests work). What's still missing is proper 
debuginfos, and I'm unsure about DLL support.

As you didn't mention the LDC version you tried, I recommend 
using bleeding-edge master for Windows: 
https://github.com/ldc-developers/ldc/releases/tag/LDC-Win64-master

I've never experienced any hangs; compiler crashes may occur, but 
should be very rare. Be sure to let us know when you hit 
something at https://github.com/ldc-developers/ldc/issues - we 
can't fix stuff we don't know about!

> Interestingly I found that LDC is crashing when I compile my 
> code from visual D but not from the command line.

Worth investigating.

> I'm like an honest opinion... Am I wasting my time trying to do 
> this project in D on Windows? I'll continue to use and support 
> the language but I don't want to fight a losing battle and end 
> up having to move away anyway...

I've been working on LDC for a couple of years (focusing on 
Windows), mainly because I want to be able to replace C++ at work 
at some point. Instead of waiting for others to fix it, I 
realized one needs to get involved to push things forward. I 
still don't write any D code except for unittests and occasional 
DMD front-end mods, so I'd love to get some feedback on 
real-world usage of LDC on Windows.

On Tuesday, 23 August 2016 at 21:25:29 UTC, Cauterite wrote:
> Well, you're fighting a losing battle by trying to use GDC/LDC 
> on Windows, since Windows is priority #2 for D, and GDC/LDC are 
> still struggling with priority #1 (Linux).

@Cauterite: You obviously have no idea about LDC at least, so 
please stop making such noninformed claims.