D, Java? To D or not to D?

[Paulo Herrera]

Hi,
I agree about D being an excellent language to write libraries.

The last two days I've been writing a multidimensional array class (yes,  
another one!!!).
I also wrote a similar library in C++. I am surprised of how much work I  
saved in D, and how useful
are things like static if, static assert, etc.

So, I agree with Don good libraries in D should start appearing in short  
time.

Paulo

On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 17:03:22 +0100, Don Clugston <dac at nospam.com.au> wrote:

> TPJ wrote:
>> I decided to start with a simple statement: with this post I don't  
>> intend to
>> start any flamewar. I'm definitely not a Java zealot, OS zealot, I'm  
>> not a
>> zealot at all. I'm just a programmer who seeks for future technologies  
>> today.
>> I'm doing it because I find investing in future technologies today very
>> profitable. Of course only in case of really good technologies...
>>  I'm a freelancer programmer. I work under a GNU/Linux box and I'm  
>> interested
>> in development of portable desktop apps (*nices, Windows, MacOSX,  
>> perhaps
>> other OSes in the future) and games (the same OSes, plus mobile phones).
>>  A few years ago I switched from C/C++ to Python. The reason was  
>> simple: I was
>> fed up with low-level development in C/C++, and I was impressed by  
>> high-level
>> development in Python. All I did in C/C++ could be done in Python with  
>> one
>> significant difference: code was written much, much faster.
>>  Now, after several years of using Python, I decided to switch from  
>> Python to
>> Java. The reason is simple. Sometimes Python is too slow for my needs.  
>> Of
>> course, I can use C in those cases. But using C means using another  
>> language
>> and development becomes more complicated. In fact, I started to use  
>> Pyrex as
>> well... Three different tools, no documentation standard for all of  
>> them...
>> The hell.
>
> [snip]
>> So I ask myself a question today: should I invest in learning D? Is it  
>> worth
>> my efforts?
>
> It's the libraries.
> The thing C# really has going for it is the .NET libraries. Likewise  
> Java. Their libraries are extensive, and were developed with massive  
> budgets.
> Right now, D cannot compete with those libraries. We got nothin'.
>
> BUT...
>
> D is a language that seems to be made for writing libraries. It is  
> exceptionally easy to write rock-solid code in D. The powerful template  
> system, coupled with language features such as lazy evaluation, inner  
> functions, etc make it possible to create extremely appealing syntax for  
> library users. I believe it is possible to create nicer libraries in D  
> than in any of those other languages you've mentioned.
>
> As a library developer, I reckon I'm about ten times productive in D as  
> in C++. I predict we'll see a rapid expansion in D library development  
> post-1.0.
>
> The bottom line:
> Don't use D right now unless you're prepared to do a lot of library  
> development. But expect the situation to change rapidly.



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