All this talk about finalising D2 makes me worried

[Robert Fraser]

Stewart Gordon wrote:
> With apologies to Bruno Medeiros....
> 
> All this talk about getting D2 finished (and other things like what 
> comes next) makes me worried. People talk as if D2 is nearing 
> completion: there are even threads about the coming or even requesting 
> the release of the finished product that D2 will be.
> 
> For a start, finishing D1 off has to come first.  I refer you all back 
> to this discussion:
> 
> http://www.digitalmars.com/d/archives/digitalmars/D/When_will_D1_be_finished_89749.html 
> 
> http://www.digitalmars.com/d/archives/digitalmars/D/Re_When_will_D1_be_finished_89913.html 
> 
> http://www.digitalmars.com/d/archives/digitalmars/D/Re_When_will_D1_be_finished_89874.html 
> 
> 
> (I don't know why the thread has become split in three.)
> 
> I've a further feeling that some have suggested declaring D1 obsolete. 
> Except that obsolete would be the wrong word - it would be more a case 
> of D1 becoming a project that was started and then abandoned.  Which 
> might sound like a good plan to some.  However, I can't at the moment 
> think of any D1 spec issue or major bug that doesn't also affect the D2 
> line.  As such, abandoning D1 will do nothing to bring closer the time 
> when we can freeze the D 2.0 spec.
> 
> It is thus in the community's best interests to get D1 finished sooner 
> rather than later, as we will then have a D that we can all use and 
> third parties can implement.
> 
> (Yes, I know I should contribute to the effort.  Trouble is that, now I 
> have a job, my time for stuff like this is limited.  But hopefully some 
> time I'll find the time to do some work on it.)
> 
> Once D1 is done and dusted, _then_ we can shift our efforts to polishing 
> D2 ready for finalisation and eventual stable release.  But in any case, 
> we need to take things one step at a time.
> 
> Stewart.

This topic has come up over and over, and the results are always the 
same: D1 will continue to be supported by Walter & co., but no new 
features will be in it. There _are_ some longstanding D1 issues 
(contract inheritance, in particular), but all (or nearly all) of these 
are issues with D2 as well, so hopefully they'll get fixed for both.

In 1.045 and 1.046, a few older bugs started to get fixed, so there is 
definitely a show of some commitment by Walter towards getting stability 
in _both_ branches of D. Further, the continued development of Tango & 
other D1-specific tools and libraries shows a strong community 
commitment to the language. The LDC community also has been hard at work 
getting D1 bugs fixed, and LDC has already fixed a few that DMD hasn't 
(and posted patches Walter hasn't looked at...).