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

[Chris]

On Sunday, 14 April 2019 at 13:47:04 UTC, Laeeth Isharc wrote:
>
> It's really strange to me.  You seem happier not using D and 
> maybe it was the right decision for you given the business you 
> are in.  But without skin in the game you have very strong 
> opinions about the direction the language ecosystem should 
> develop towards.

I simply see what others do right and tell you guys about it so 
it may help D to thrive (and I have a few years of (good and bad) 
experience with D too).

> If you look at the companies using D, how would you describe 
> the niche of D commercially?  I don't think it's possible to do 
> so based on domain.  And note that certain others make the 
> opposite complaint - that D doesn't have a niche and that 
> people should decide what it should be.

It's pretty niche, as far as I know, very specific software, 
Assembly is still being used for specific tasks too and the 
companies using it may be very successful, but that doesn't say 
anything about the overall qualities of the language.

> I think that adoption is driven by the kinds of people that use 
> D rather than the domain - it's a question of capabilities, 
> culture and values.

Yes, very specific use cases, crafted by expert programmers. But 
the same could be said about Assembly, Lisp and C/C++.

> Early adopters aren't like normal people.  D isn't ready for 
> adoption by the masses yet, and that's entirely normal and just 
> how the innovation cycle tends to unfold.

I'd agree if you were talking about Crystal, but D after 20 
years??? Nah!