Why is D unpopular?

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad]

On Friday, 6 May 2022 at 15:26:52 UTC, Adam D Ruppe wrote:
> I'm not looking down on insects. Quite the opposite - I'm 
> defending their flexibility against common misconceptions over 
> their hyper specialization.

What makes insects more adaptable than humans when disasters hit 
is that they are so simple and many that they can adapt through 
genetic mutations. Poor analogy for D, but it would be a great 
analogy in favour of LISP!

Anyway, most imperative languages are more or less equally 
powerful and have very similar features (in the abstract).

That was not the point.

The point was that you need to retain dedicated users over time 
in order to build an eco system. It is not even strictly about 
how many users you've got or the expressiveness of the language. 
What those users are interested in and the "gravity" of their 
libraries can then cause a formation of a niche around that 
language. If they leave early, then you cannot sustain an eco 
system, nor grow a niche.

Think of it in terms of gravity.