D is our last hope

[Siarhei Siamashka]

On Wednesday, 20 December 2023 at 02:31:58 UTC, Richard (Rikki) 
Andrew Cattermole wrote:
> That isn't going to work long term.
>
> We already have at least one more release in between that one 
> and current versions.

It's only one frontend, which is frozen at version 2.076 of 
language features. However it's good enough to develop software. 
It could be probably kept alive and updated just enough to keep 
compatible with the current and future GCC backends.

> Using the C++ dump approach is significantly better, you go 
> immediately to the latest version.

This approach sounds super fragile and restrictive. Compared to a 
full fledged GDC 11 with a complete arsenal of its features and 
Phobos.

> With the old bootstrap approach you have to maintain N 
> frontends with their glue code indefinitely. It doesn't scale.

Only the "edition 2017" frontend. There's no need for N 
frontends. But yes, maintaining even one frontend is not free and 
somebody needs to take care of it.