Why is D unpopular?

[Guillaume Piolat]

On Wednesday, 3 November 2021 at 14:02:52 UTC, Ola Fosheim 
Grøstad wrote:
> D did receive quite a bit of hype for being a possible 
> successor to C++ on Slashdot around 2006/2007 or so (at that 
> point in time /. was more inclined to publish stories about new 
> exciting tech). Basically, D was projected as become the 
> language that would remove the complexities of C++ and make you 
> more productive.

What I meant is that posting of the spec on Slashdot in 2001 
wasn't a carefully executed software release you could have 
for... consumer applications and new languages from big companies.


> I doubt I would have looked at D if the connection to C++ 
> wasn't used as a "marketing trajectory".

Absolutely.
For me it was playing Kenta Cho games and noticing they were all 
written in D, without source available, and the sheer amount of 
innovation and grit that Kenta would display through his games. I 
did fall for D later having to use C++ at work, because it 
instantly felt wrong after a long exposure to the Wirth family of 
languages. So yes exposure to C++ highlight the value of D more I 
guess, so you can get the issue of intersecting audiences.