Why is D unpopular?

[Max Samukha]

On Monday, 2 May 2022 at 00:24:24 UTC, Bruce Carneal wrote:
>
>
> Does writing a compile time function require any new 
> knowledge/skill or is it like writing a runtime function?  
> Accurately answering "they're like any other function, use 
> functions in either context and you'll be fine" means you've 
> got something immediately useful to newcomers, an ultra low 
> friction path to more power.

It does require new knowledge - you have to stick "macro" to the 
function declaration. In D, you don't need to do that, because 
the grammatical context the function is used in determines 
whether the function will be executed at compile time.

>
> Answering "no, but we have super duper xyz which is every bit 
> as powerful theoretically and should probably be preferred 
> because it's hard for people to understand and qualifies you 
> for your programming wizard merit badge", means you, as a 
> language designer, did not understand what you could have had.
>
> Unless I'm missing something big from the Nemerle wiki page 
> those language designers did not understand what they could 
> have had.

There is nothing big about CTFE. )

>
> I'm happy to give credit where it is due but I'd advise hanging 
> on to that beer in this case. :-)

I need my beer badly right now!