D1, D2, Tango, Phobos, Std, Runtime

[bearophile]

Paul:

> I was reading a wiki about D and it talked about Tango vs. 
> Phobos.  I read some items on runtime vs. standard libraries as 
> well.  I am bit confused about all of it.  Are the standard 
> libraries compiled into every exe and then the runtimes linked 
> as needed?  Are they all or nothing entities?  In other words 
> if I need a function to I have to include the whole library in 
> my exe?
>  Is Tango the latest and Phobos the original?  Which should a 
> new programmer start with?  Appreciate your patience(s).

On Windows I suggest D2 with Phobos. (Tango too is an option, but 
it's not meant to replace Phobos any more). I suggest to start 
with the 2.058/2.059 DMD compiler (but later LDC2 or GDC are an 
option).

The runtime is not a replacement for the standard library.

Normally Phobos is compiled statically in the binary (there are 
ways to avoid this), but only a small part of Phobos will be put 
in your binary, usually a little more than the induced tree of 
functions you use.

Bye,
bearophile