Has D failed? ( unpopular opinion but I think yes )

[bachmeier]

On Friday, 12 April 2019 at 15:25:05 UTC, Nierjerson wrote:

> And this is the problem. Those hard core users like yourself 
> that pretend that popularity doesn't matter.

The D language is sort of like the Arch Linux community used to 
be (and maybe still is, but I no longer use it). New users would 
come in and comment "you need more GUI support", "you need to 
stop expecting people to compile their own software", and "your 
distro will never become popular with an attitude like this 
community". The goal of the Arch Linux project was very 
explicitly to provide a high quality option for users that wanted 
a distro following a particular philosophy. The D language offers 
what it offers. If anything, the complaints are that the things 
it offers should be of higher quality, that the project needs to 
scale back further.

I don't think anyone is saying we should drive away users. But 
that is different from saying that popularity will drive all 
decisions and all contributions to D.

> So many users here think "I like D and it is good enough for 
> me" not realizing that not catering to the masses is putting 
> nails in the coffin.

If you have a few million to contribute to hiring a team to cater 
to the masses, this is a sensible argument. As things currently 
stand, catering to the masses will not happen, because there are 
no resources to do so. Sun had the money to do it, the D Language 
Foundation does not.

> See, it is not that D itself is a bad language, it is that the 
> whole atmosphere surrounding it, how it is managed, is the 
> problem. Some things are done well but others poorly, 
> eventually those things that are neglected will catch up 
> because the community seems to care not one bit about them. The 
> cracks are getting bigger and bigger, I'm sorry you can't see 
> them.

To the extent that this is true, we are still constrained by 
reality. Without resources there is no point in talking about 
changes that have to happen. It's easy to come up with ideas for 
work other should do. It's a bit harder to come up with ideas and 
then make them happen.

My recommendation is that you move on to another language if you 
don't like the current state of affairs. I don't see it changing 
in the next decade. (Interpret that statement as you wish, but 
this is reality, there is no reason to pretend otherwise or talk 
about changes that "should" happen.)

The D language works very well for me. It may not work for 
others. And that's okay.