It is the year 2020: why should I use / learn D?

[H. S. Teoh]

On Sat, Nov 24, 2018 at 03:19:26PM +0000, Chris via Digitalmars-d wrote:
[...]
> I don't understand how things are prioritized in D. Basic and
> important things seem to be at the bottom of the list (XML parser),
> other things get huge attention while they are of dubious value to
> many users. This is why I don't completely buy the "we don't have
> enough resources" argument. The scarce resources you have are not used
> wisely in my opinion. And it is a pity when I see that D has loads of
> potential (C/C++ interop, Objective-C interop etc.) but other new
> languages overtake D because they focus on practical issues too.
[...]

You have to understand that D is an open source project run by
volunteers, not a for-profit organization that can afford to pay people
to tell them what to do. Well, with the D foundation setup now, I
suppose we could begin to pay some people to work on stuff (and we
have).  But with a budget of barely over 1K per month, the bulk of the
work is still done by unpaid volunteers who contribute purely out of
their own initiative.  Demanding that volunteers work on tasks that you
deem important is about as effective as herding cats.  This is not to
excuse the state of things in any way, but it's just a realistic
evaluation of the actual situation.

Even though Walter and Andrei serve as BDFL and visionary leaders, they
can no more order any of us to do anything than a random stranger from
the street can dictate to you how you ought to spend your free time.
They can't just "use our resources" however they want, because this
isn't a top-down organization where the higher ups assign tasks to the
lower downs. This is a gathering of like-minded peers who contribute as
equals according to their interest and capacity because they believe in
the product.

This is really what we mean when we say "if you want X to change, do it
yourself" or "be the change that you want to see".  It should not be
misconstrued as writing anyone off, an excuse for laziness, or being
dismissive of newcomers.  Rather, it's an open invitation to participate
in the gathering of peers, to have a hand in producing something we hope
and believe will be wonderful. Whether you accept the invitation or not
is really up to you -- it's not a demand, but just an invitation. If you
see the value in D, and if you feel you can contribute something useful,
then you will be welcomed.  But if you expect to tell others what to do
while not contributing anything yourself, then don't be surprised if you
get the same reactions you might give when a random stranger walks up to
you and starts dictating how you ought to be spending your free time.


T

-- 
What's a "hot crossed bun"? An angry rabbit.