Newbie to D initial suggestion

[Larry]

I will second Edward's suggestions. It also goes for the Tango site. I have spent time on both sites looking for documentation. I remember how happy I was when I finally discovered the link to the pdf reference material it was very well hidden but should be at the top of the very first page.

I have not been able to find any downloadable reference material in the D 2.0 section that is in pdf format. It would be very big help in finally switching to the 2.0 version although I know it is still in alpha or beta testing.

When visiting the Tango site, I had to download the reference manual (which was incomplete, can someone finish it please) in text format. I have been inserting the text files into my word processor and using copy and paste to get the graphics back in. And then I am also reformating it and will hopefully have a document I can convert to pdf.

I do know how boring and mind numbing documenting specification and reference's is since I have it in the clinical laboratory field in another life in my first career. But getting the reference material for both D and Tango in to a pdf format and in a place on the web sites that is easily accessible would go along way to help get others to adopt D as their language of choice. 

Edward Diener Wrote:

> I am an experienced C++ programmer who became interested in D only after 
> the recent discussion on comp.lang.c++ between Walter Bright and various 
> C++ experts regarding undefined or implementation defined areas of C++. 
> I realized during reading that discussion that while I would not stop 
> programming in C++ I was sympathetic to many of Mr. Bright's points 
> regarding C++.
> 
> I have a basic initial suggestion, as I am persuing the D pdf dcument I 
> downloaded in order to understand of what the language consisted. The 
> basic suggestion regards documentation for D itself. I believe the most 
> important thing for getting others to be interested in a new programming 
> language is the unglamorous chore of presenting the documentation for 
> that language to others. While the pdf documentation I am reading is 
> adequately thorough, I have a few suggestions:
> 
> 1) A link to the downloaded documentation for D should be almost the 
> first thing a viewer should see when they click on the D portion of the 
> Digital Mars web site. It should be front and center. I realize there is 
> a separate Language link on the left hand side which takes me to an 
> online set of pages which explain D and I realize that somewhere down on 
> the initial page there is a line which reads "This document is available 
> as a pdf" with a link on that final word, but I think this is still too 
> indirect. The normal reaction to any new language is to download the 
> documentation detailing that language so that it can be read and/or 
> printed at the end-user's leisure.
> 
> 2) Since D is highly related to C++ there should be a document for C++ 
> programmers detailing the differences between D and C++, which again is 
> downloadable almost immediately from the main web page of D. I did not 
> find any such document although there is occasional mention of these 
> diferences in the pdf document I downloaded.
> 
> 3) There is evidently a version 2.0 and above of D. Perhaps it is not 
> meant for anybody to become interested in this version who is just 
> attempting to learn what D is about, but the complete lack of any 
> documentation which I could find about this version and/or its 
> difference from the 1.0 version is not a good thing.
> 
> The pdf document I am reading is a good technical document but I would 
> rather, as an experienced C++ programmer, have read a downloadable 
> document detailing the differences between D and C++ than having to wade 
> through each section of the pdf document attempting to see what they are.
> 
> I realize that writing documentation is the chore which nearly every 
> programmer hates but when one is creating a new computer language it is 
> almost an absolute necessity if one wants to get others to try what one 
> has created. So I hope the mild suggestions mentioned here will help the 
> D community in their efforts to tell other interested programmers, 
> especially C++ programmers, why they might consider using D.
> 
> Now I will continue to read on about D at my leisure, and see if I am 
> interested in pursuing my initial interest in it. If I have any general 
> suggestions about the language I hope they will be taken in the spirit 
> of things intended to improve things rather than as an antagonism to the 
> ideas presented there.