Why is D unpopular

[norm]

On Tuesday, 14 June 2022 at 07:34:32 UTC, bauss wrote:

> Now you have this huge amount of attribute soup that you either 
> need to sprinkle everywhere or you have to completely ignore.

Totally agree with this, it puts me off using D. TBH I haven't 
started a project in D for a while now, I am simply reaching for 
Python or C++20. Both get the job done and while not great C++ is 
at least moving in the right direction.

> The community and libraries etc. also feel a lot more divided, 
> even compared to when tango was a viable alternative to phobos; 
> at least that's how it feels from my point of view.

I much prefer Phobos over Tango but I agree the core development 
community seem very divided. Instead of trying to grow the user 
base with a great experience, adding syntax sugar and frition 
reducing features like `int[$] arr = [1, 2, 3];` etc. But no, a 
massive amnount of energy is spent on chasing C? Seriously?? C 
interop is hugely important but D already interop'd with C 
seamlessly enough....clearly not enough for a core few because 
that is the main focus for D development right now.

> Also it's like D chooses the most complex implementations for 
> every new feature that has to be added.
>
> I came to D because it was easier to use and get things done in 
> than any other languages, but over the past couple years I've 
> slowly stopped starting new projects in D because it's becoming 
> a drain to use and all its selling points are no longer selling 
> points because other languages are either on pair with D or 
> does it better.

This is also my experience, unfortunately it is at the point 
where I do not start new projects in D.

>
> D was on the path to greatness, but no more. It's spiraling 
> down a bad path and it's honestly sad. It had so much potential 
> and I'm not sure it'll ever recover.

Totally agree but I wouldn't say sad, it just is. I have moved 
back to C++ for hobby projects and I'm rather enjoying C++20. I 
also like the fact I'm staying up to date the latest C++. There 
are a lot more C++ jobs than D jobs out there.

>
> The only way for D to ever succeed would be to start D3 ASAP 
> and start by figuring out how to get rid of the attribute soup 
> etc. because all it does is adding clutter and clutter is what 
> makes a language difficult to use. C++ wasn't hard because of 
> the technical stuff, but because there's a lot of clutter in 
> the language with templates etc. IMHO.

Agreed, I like the improvements in C++20 but it has a long way to 
go to make things readable That said `int func(auto value) {}` is 
pretty easy to read template. D code now with attributes, I 
wouldn't know where to start and TBH would probably just ignore 
them.