Fixing C's Biggest Mistake

[Don Allen]

On Friday, 23 December 2022 at 14:24:36 UTC, GrimMaple wrote:

> What is your goal even, do you care about D at all? I'm going 
> to great lengths to write software that's pure D, and when the 
> creator of D gives up and starts "fixing" other languages, 
> that's a huge off point to many.

Yes.

This episode prompted me to do some reading about the history of 
this project. Around the time Andrei Andreescu left the project, 
he wrote a pretty frank message about the state of the D world 
then and what he thought was needed. This prompted an exchange of 
messages with others interested in D. My point in bringing this 
up is that that exchange makes what has happened here feel like 
deju-vu all over again. Nothing has changed.

I don't think anyone in their right mind would question Walter's 
knowledge of compilers, his technical chops. But knowing how to 
make compilers does not qualify a person to manage a complex 
software project and set its agenda. This requires different 
talents. It is what the Peter Principle is all about. I speak 
from experience here, including my own mistakes in a long career 
of writing code and managing development projects. I was far 
better at the former than the latter and I think the same can be 
said of Walter. Reading the Andreescu thread demonstrates that I 
am not the first to make this observation.

The issues with this project's decision-making have exactly the 
effect you cite. It has had a direct effect on my own confidence 
in this project. I'm building software for my family to use 
without me, when that time comes, and it now feels to me like a 
key component that I'm relying on comes from a dysfunctional 
family. For that reason, I've decided to fall back on my original 
C version and bring it up-to-date (including back-porting some of 
my D code). I have more confidence in the stability of the C 
environment and its tools, despite the primitive state of the 
language compared to D.

I do hope this project finally finds a way to right itself. It 
will take the addition of the right person or people, not an easy 
task, but not impossible. Good luck.