TIOBE February 2016.... 15 ?!

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad via Digitalmars-d]

On Wednesday, 3 February 2016 at 12:06:30 UTC, Martin 
Tschierschke wrote:
> If something is around the corner, you must know!

There are many corners. Some, like the corner of compiled 
languages with automatic memory management and high level 
features have moved a lot in the past few years (Swift and Go). 
It is gone. There is no way for D to catch up with Swift and Go.

The other corner, taken by C, C++ and now also Rust, moves a lot 
slower and is in some areas incapable of moving. So I think the 
current focus on interfacing with C++ is the right focus, just 
keep focused on it. D needs to reach parity with common C++ 
features and then do it better across the board.

C++ is basically incapable of undoing past bad design decisions. 
D also have baggage, but D is fortunate enough to have commercial 
users who have clearly stated that they welcome breaking changes, 
so D can thankfully get rid of bad design choices.

C++ cannot break existing code, and Rust has gone down a trail of 
semantics that leads to complicated compiler design. That's to 
D's advantage, if D avoid going down similar complicated routes 
(unfortunately some DIPs suggests otherwise). There's lots of 
potential there if the D designers stay focused on that target 
and take the fast path (avoid convoluted semantics and compiler 
requirements).


> And a special second list, where people can vote, which topic 
> of D (language or environemt) need to be improved most?

The historical challenge for D is a tendency to spread out. 
Voting is no good, it takes away focus. Then you are back to 
hunting down many corners, and D will remain one step behind.