Coolest D features

[Mike Parker]

Bill Baxter wrote:
> I wholeheartedly agree with Waldemar, though, that the things that are 
> going to sway C/C++ folks are different from what's going to sway 
> Java/C# folks.  D's library and development tools are still rather 
> anemic, so most likely that would send most Java/C# folks running.  On 
> the other hand, if they find they need to deliver an app that works 
> stand-alone, independent of a 100MB runtime environment, or one which 
> runs at native speed, then D is probably the closest thing they're going 
> to find to their beloved Java/C# that can do the job.
> 

Being a long time Java programmer, I strongly disagree with you and 
Waldemar both. Speed is only an issue for people who don't use Java, or 
for those who don't really know how to properly write software with it. 
Most Java programmers I know, myself included, call the "Java is slow" 
mantra a myth. Java *used to* be slow, true. Today, it's possible to 
code a clunky app in Java if you don't know what you are doing. But the 
reality is that it's plenty fast in the general case. Plus, Java 
programmers swear by runtime compilation. And each release of Sun's 
Hotspot compiler, coupled with bug fixes and enhancements in the 
standard APIs, ups performance. So if you want to woo them, focusing on 
speed is not the way to do it. That would be more likely to turn them 
off, if not make them outright perturbed (oh, here we go again, another 
"Java is slow" moron).