Suggestion re the manual

[Paul]

On Thursday, 9 June 2022 at 14:03:43 UTC, Guillaume Piolat wrote:
> On Wednesday, 8 June 2022 at 18:34:20 UTC, Paul wrote:
>> It is very frustrating to hear "Why would we want to code in 
>> D? Who uses D?" when we know with 100% certainty that D 
>> significantly reduces our development time, and increases the 
>> reliability and maintainability of our software.
>
> Welcome to D!
> Do not hesitate to speak about your experiences in the D Blog :)

I am Googling for research on how many (most?) people typically 
learn a new programming language. Some interesting hits come up:

https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=ms-android-telus-ca-revc&source=android-browser&q=research+on+how+most+people+learn+a+new+programming+language

Without yet digging into the research, I would assume it is a 
cost vs return equation based on needs and motivation. For 
myself, at first I do not yet know if I want to "commit" to the 
language, and so I want to keep my learning time (cost) to the 
minimum necessary to assess if this is the language I need. I 
would have to think about what criteria I am using to assess the 
new language. Again, this may be determined by what is motivating 
me to do so. Is it for myself? For my boss? A specific technical 
challenge? Is this a long or short term project? How important is 
this?

It seems I need to be "drawn in", easily at first, but with 
gradual increasing levels of depth and levels of commitment. At 
each step, my cost vs return balance must be kept positive, 
assuming I am in control of my decisions.

I know what I wanted: A compiled language that will be powerful, 
clear, concise, consistent, and save countless wasted hours 
dealing with the challenges of C++ and other languages. D does 
this very well. Who wouldn't want all this, andyet why is it 
difficult for me to convince others, and to get that level of 
commitment to read the books, invest the time? One concern may be 
"Who uses D?" "How will D help *my* career?" I would argue that 
it can and it will help their career, even if D is not a language 
the programmer will use in their next job. It changes the way one 
thinks about programming. It focuses on removing waste, and that 
is a mindset valuable in any environment. D helps make us better 
programmers, no matter what language we use.

Sorry, just thinking out loud here. Maybe it will spark some 
ideas.