Why is D unpopular?

Ola Fosheim Grøstad ola.fosheim.grostad at gmail.com
Fri Nov 5 15:51:56 UTC 2021


On Friday, 5 November 2021 at 15:30:51 UTC, Bruce Carneal wrote:
> Finally, note that "besting" a particular language in some 
> way(s) does not imply "besting" that language in terms of 
> uptake but it does mean that for those who weight those factors 
> heavily, D is the right choice.

Yes, for instance, if you know D and not Python and don't need to 
do system integration, then the cost of using D for "scripting" 
is much less than using Python. So I understand that programmers 
that don't want to be polyglot might prefer to use a 
swiss-army-knife language like D. For polyglot programmers, I 
think, specialities tend to win out.

For instance, I have no preference for Dart for writing a GUI 
applications (as a language). But right now it looks like it 
could win out by conquering iPhone, Android and in the future the 
Desktop. Once Dart has established itself on the Desktop, it 
might be difficult to compete. So, there is a window of 
opportunity for languages like D, Nim etc in that space right 
now. Who builds the more attractive portable application 
framework wins.

And in that space I would agree that C++ is not a strong 
contender even though it has Qt (although C++ does compete in 
companionship with other languages).



More information about the Digitalmars-d mailing list