Feedback from the Gripes and Wishes Campaign

[H. S. Teoh]

On Fri, May 19, 2023 at 06:37:05PM +0000, IGotD- via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> On Friday, 19 May 2023 at 15:58:25 UTC, ryuukk_ wrote:
> > 
> > There are some features that are essential to be able achieve the
> > vision D wants to achieve (pay as you go)
> > 
> 
> I think the problem with the D community is that they are not bold
> enough.  If you have an idea just do it, don't wait for any approval
> from Walter or the maintainers because they are going to say no anyway
> or not saying anything at all. If you have made a PR that is popular,
> the maintainers have no power to stop it which will only lead to that
> D eventually will be forked.

+1. I was just a random nobody who found D online, ran into problems,
and decided that instead of waiting for somebody else to fix my problems
for me, I'll fix them myself and submit PRs.  Then when my PRs were
getting ignored, I pestered the maintainers until they responded. When
they didn't respond I made a louder noise.  Eventually, I made a loud
enough noise that one fine day Andrei suddenly decided to give me the
keys to the kingdom, so to speak, and I became one of the Phobos
committers.  Haven't really been doing much these days with that,
though, but still.  Taking the initiative is what will change things;
sitting around hoping somebody else will do the work generally ends in
disappointment. Besides, fixing it yourself will get you the solution
faster (there was a period of time I was using my local modification of
the dmd toolchain 'cos upstream was b0rken and I couldn't wait for the
fix to be officially merged), and on top of that earns you creds with
the maintainers and the community.


> One problem with this is that writing compilers requires knowledge but
> if you have the knowledge, don't wait for Walter (he's busy with
> importC anyway) or the maintainers. If you are waiting for some plan,
> approval whatever, just forget it. Instead work with the community and
> the community can sort out what changes works and which don't.
[...]

I'd say, if you don't have the knowledge, why not spend the time to
acquire it?  Regardless of the outcome, this knowledge will be very
useful to you wherever you may end up. Understanding how compilers
actually work will help you understand why programming languages are the
way they are, and how to exploit this to your own advantage instead of
chafing every time something doesn't work your way.

Don't sit around waiting for the bull to end up where you want it to;
grab the bull by its horns and *make* it go where you want.


T

-- 
When solving a problem, take care that you do not become part of the problem.