Proposal: First class types (at compiletime)

[Paul Backus]

On Thursday, 20 July 2023 at 17:52:38 UTC, TheGag96 wrote:
> On Thursday, 20 July 2023 at 16:57:16 UTC, jmh530 wrote:
>> You mean dropping it was a mistake? Or you mean type functions 
>> are a mistake? (if so, can you explain more what those 
>> languages had an issue with)
>
> Sorry, I was probably unclear - not going the type functions 
> route was a mistake.

The thing is, none of the existing template stuff is ever going 
away. So the choice is not really between "templates" and 
"first-class types", it's between "templates" and "both".

I agree that, in retrospect, relying on templates for 
metaprogramming was probably a mistake. But at this point, 
there's nothing we can do to fix it short of starting a new 
language from scratch--which is not something the D leadership 
has any interest in.