Why is D unpopular?

[forkit]

On Monday, 23 May 2022 at 01:37:09 UTC, Paul Backus wrote:
> On Sunday, 22 May 2022 at 11:49:27 UTC, forkit wrote:
>> [...]
>
> We actually have this in D, it's just written weirdly:
>
> ```d
> // debug assertion
> assert(condition);
>
> // release assertion
> if (!condition) assert(0);
> ```
>
> It would probably be more intuitive if we could write release 
> assertions as plain `assert`, and use `debug assert` for debug 
> assertions. But the functionality is there.

helpful info. thanks.

Sadly, it is (as you suggest), rather counterintuitive that the 
same keyword gets removed in one example, and not the other.