Reddit: why aren't people using D?

[Rainer Deyke]

Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> Well I use it sometimes too, but it's so fraught with peril that
> virtually all coding standards I've ever seen, all books and magazine
> articles on the topic, all pundits, say one thing: don't. Better use
> composition.

My take on composition vs inheritance is very simple: always use
composition, unless you absolutely need inheritance.  Sometimes I
absolutely need inheritance, and D isn't giving it to me.

I don't care about your coding standards.  I know how to use C++.  I
have my own rules about how to use it safely and effectively, rules that
I have spent a lifetime refining.  I still make mistakes, but almost all
of my bugs are of the simple stupid kind that can be made in all
languages.  I don't need or want D to protect me from the pitfalls of
C++ if this means significantly reducing the expressive power of the
language.  I don't want a safe language for little kids, I want a real
language for adults.

(And, truly, D is better in this regard than many of its competitors.
Perhaps the awesome power of string mixins will be enough to offset its
 missing features.  I will definitely give D2 a try when it is finished.)


-- 
Rainer Deyke - rainerd at eldwood.com