Any idea when the 1.0 spec will be out?

[Don Clugston]

Bruno Medeiros wrote:
> Don Clugston wrote:
>> Boris Wang wrote:
>>> In addition, reference return type, variable template parameter, etc.
>>>
>>> The D is far from the 1.0 mile stone.
>>>
>>> It's good time for us to have a rest, may be one years, two 
>>> years...,  :(
>>
>> The problem is, you cannot develop a stable 1.0 library until you have 
>> a  stable 1.0 language. (Important example: template container classes 
>> can't be standardised until we know how good the implicit function 
>> template instantiation will be by 1.0).
>> Secondly, features such as array literals, variable template 
>> parameters, etc, have been stated to be a post-1.0 feature.
>>
>>
> 
> Indeed so. And I think this is very relevant to D's development process 
> because it indicates that early Phobos/library development may not be as 
> productive as late development, because with early development, more 
> things may have to be changed afterwards. 

The new syntax introduced in 0.161 is a case in point. It makes 
delegate-based interfaces far more attractive. AFAIK, none of us had any 
idea it was coming.

Perhaps this is the reason why
> Phobos is less mature that the rest of the toolchain(the compiler)?
> Note, I'm not saying early Phobos development is never worthwhile, (that 
> would likely depend on each particular case), I'm just pointing out too 
> this general consideration.

It's definitely a contributing factor. Still, I think the main reason is 
that the entire D community combined is barely as productive as one Walter.
Large parts of the language are almost fully mature, and I've 
concentrated my effort on those (compile-time metaprogramming, 
numerics). But it doesn't make sense to work on something like DTL which 
is guaranteed to become horribly obsolete quickly.

I wonder if we could have a partial 1.0 spec? Eg, declare a feature 
freeze on certain parts of the language, and gradually lock more of it down.