The Death of D. (Was Tango vs Phobos)

[Brian Price]

My take on the Tango vs Phobos situation is:

For production use the only real choice is D1 (D2 being alpha) and it looks like
there are going to be so many changes in the language that going from a D1 app to
a D2 app is going to require more than a bit of work and thought.

So, restricting the answer to D1, Tango seems to be a more full featured , robust,
and maintained library than Phobos.  I'd expect that to change in D2 and expect
the natural choice there will be Phobos (barring a ton of work by the Tango crew).

Regardless of the choice of library for use with D1, moving to D2 with either
library looks like a chore since Phobos seems to be undergoing some (much needed)
significant changes from D1 to D2 versions.

As to the larger topic, D is potentially caught on the horns of a dilemma: D1 is
not a significant enough advance on current languages to justify a move even if
there were no library concerns; D2 may well be enough of a step forward to justify
a move but there is the issue of timing.  My take is that if the upcoming C++
standard makes it into compilers used in common production before D2 is ready for
prime time that D may never gain a real foothold in mainstream use.  I'm hoping
that the D2 team sets a deadline and leaves some things for a future D3 rather
than miss the window of opportunity.

Brian