D vs VM-based platforms

[Sean Kelly]

lubosh wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I wonder what you all think about the future of programming platforms. I've got a lot of code written in C# and lately I started to read more about D.
> 
> Honestly, I feel quite refreshed to re-discover native compilation in D again. It seems so much more lightweight than .NET framework or Java. Why there's so much push on the market (Microsoft, Sun) for executing source code within virtual machines? Do we really need yet another layer between hardware and our code? What's your opinion? I wonder how much stir up would D cause if it would have nice and powerful standardized library and really good IDE (like VS.NET)

Java runs on a VM largely because it allows proprietary applications to 
be run on any platform with a supporting VM.  The alternative would be 
to distribute code in source form and have the user build locally, or to 
pre-build for every target platform (which is not always feasible).  By 
contrast, the primary reason for .NET running in a VM is language 
interoperability (since .NET is a COM replacement).  I would say that a 
VM-based D would be useful in the same situations, though I don't have a 
need for this myself.


Sean