When will D1 be finished?

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

Brad Roberts wrote:
> On Tue, 12 May 2009, Walter Bright wrote:
> 
>> Jason House wrote:
>>> I've also wondered a bit about the impression people have of Walter
>>> ignoring the things most important to them. Obviously, everyone can't
>>> talk to Walter directly. I wonder if it would be possible to have
>>> official delegates on specific aspects of D... People hand picked by
>>> Walter as expert proxies. For example, changes to std.algorithm (and
>>> all of Phobos?)  should go through Andrei. I have not tried to come
>>> up with a list of categories. Having an exhaustive set of D-related
>>> concerns ans officisl proxies would help focus discussion/efforts. It
>>> also gives a way for a the most important concerns to be raised to
>>> Walter directly through back channels such as coffee shop discussions
>>> , phone calls, e-mail etc.
>> I've been wondering if it's time for another D conference.
> 
> I'm pretty sure I could offer the space again (I'd need to reserve the 
> rooms far in advance).  Offering my time to schedule and gather speakers 
> and people is what caused the last attempt to fizzle.  I'd be happy to 
> setup the same signup page (and even enhance it if there's desires for it 
> to do more) again.  Really, getting speakers committed and organized is 
> the largest part of the work other than the actual event itself.
> 
> If there's sufficient interest, and a range of dates chosen, I'll be glad 
> to go see what I can arrange with our conferencing guys.

The stars are aligning themselves very nicely for a second D conference. 
However, I would like to suggest a few changes this time around that are 
aimed at improving the quality of the conference.

* All submissions will be reviewed by a committee. They must be 
presented at least as abstract + slides for review. The committee will 
reject weak submissions even though there might be "space" left. No more 
"I think I can slap together something" this time around.

* The conference should not be free. This may seem odd, but I am 
convinced that a non-free conference will end up being better than a 
free one. There will be a cost that's reasonable but non-null. Speakers 
will get appropriate discounts and transportation reimbursements, which 
encourages competitiveness and also allows us to bring an outside 
authority for e.g. a keynote talk.

* We should put together one or more panels. I personally don't care 
much for panels/roundtables/etc., but somehow most people love them. For 
the state of D in particular, I believe the panel format will be very 
appropriate.

In short, I'd like to hold a real, good-quality conference.


Andrei