Puzzled by this behavior

[Don Allen]

On Tuesday, 31 May 2022 at 17:52:35 UTC, Adam D Ruppe wrote:
> On Tuesday, 31 May 2022 at 17:41:18 UTC, Don Allen wrote:
>> This strikes me as pretty inconsistent behavior
>
> Code in functions is actually executed in sequence. Nested 
> functions aren't exactly code, but the same rule applies to 
> them. Consider:
>
> int a = 5;
> a = 6;
> int b = a;
>
> What is b? Of course we know since it happens in sequence. Same 
> rule applies with nested functions.
>
>> I've also not found it documented, though I could have missed 
>> it (if someone could point me to where this is discussed, I'd
>
> It has its own section on the function page:
>
> https://dlang.org/spec/function.html#nested-declaration-order

Code in Scheme functions are also evaluated in sequence, but 
functions can be mutually recursive whether at top-level or not, 
so the mere fact of sequential evaluation is not the explanation. 
What appears to matter is when the location of called functions 
are resolved -- compile-time (and if so, what pass?) or run-time. 
  In Scheme and Haskell, it is (at least conceptually) at 
run-time. D appears to do it both ways, depending on the 
particular situation (top-level? nested? static methods?). 
Without understanding the reason for this choice, I must say I 
find it quite odd.