newbie question

[Timon Gehr]

On 09/18/2011 10:08 PM, %u wrote:
> does D compatibility with C restrict D from evolving ?

Binary compatibility as in extern(C) certainly does not. As to 
source-level compatibility, the only "guarantee" that Ds design gives is 
that C code will either compile as D code with identical semantics or 
not compile at all. The only thing that restricts a language from 
evolving is compatibility with the existing code base for that language.

 > and if D drop this will that prevent complexity?

You mean, "does C compatibility impose additional complexity on the D 
language?" ?

I am sure it does not, C is quite basic. And as I said, not every C 
program is also valid D code. That is both an advantage and a 
disadvantage in comparison to C++.