Why is D unpopular?

forkit forkit at gmail.com
Sun Nov 14 23:54:19 UTC 2021


On Sunday, 14 November 2021 at 21:58:21 UTC, Ola Fosheim Grøstad 
wrote:
> On Sunday, 14 November 2021 at 21:42:44 UTC, Dr Machine Code 
> wrote:
>> what example of that D's complexity?
>
> In general? The forums are full of those.
>
> I don't want to start a flamewar by listing, but despite people 
> claiming meta-programming is easy in D, it isn't difficult to 
> point out that there are half-baked mechanisms, feature overlap 
> that isn't needed, limited deduction abilities that can make 
> expressing things more awkward etc.
>
> Too much complexity on function signatures for sure, how many 
> casual D programmers remember what inout does?
>
> The ACID test of language complexity is to look at typical code 
> bases and ask yourself if it would be a good idea to tell 
> newbies to learn the language from studying those.
>
> I think both C+, Rust and D has a usability problem there.

I'd also argue, that complexity is the natural outcome of any 
programming language that is suitable for solving problems across 
different domains.

Complexity is the natural outcome, because developing 'general 
purpose' problem solving strategies that cut across different 
domains, is very difficult.

With such a language, you must begin on the basis: 'expect the 
unexpected'.

When introducing such a language to novices, you need to do it in 
a very structured and focused manner, and with a good 
understanding of cognitive science as it relates to learning.

The inverse is also true. A programming language designed for 
solving problems within a specific domain, will be less complex 
that one designed to solve problems across different domains.

Complexity is not the problem per se. Our approach to that 
complexity is usually the problem.




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