The Next Big Language

[Denis Koroskin]

On Mon, 18 Oct 2010 19:07:38 +0400, Don <nospam at nospam.com> wrote:

> Jeff Nowakowski wrote:
>> On 10/18/2010 04:59 AM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
>>>
>>> Java was big long before it was open-sourced, and C# is big in spite  
>>> of the fact
>>> that its main compiler isn't open source and the one that is (Mono) is  
>>> so far
>>> behind the main one that many people totally discount it.
>>  Java and C# were pushed by big companies. Pretty much any other  
>> popular language these days is open source.
>>
>>> I really don't understand the complaints about the lack of an open  
>>> source
>>> compiler for D, but then again, I've always been pro-open source and  
>>> anti-free
>>> software (I think that the FSF is nuts, personally), so that may be  
>>> why.
>>  I really don't understand why you say you don't understand. You list  
>> the reasons why open source is good. Not everybody has the luxury of  
>> plopping down a $1000 for a compiler. People don't want vendor lock-in.  
>> Open source is a popular movement, and you say you're pro-open source,  
>> and you don't understand why D gets knocked for not being so?
>
> The problem is that D is getting attacked _as if it were closed source_,  
> which is completely untrue! The source code for ALL D compilers is  
> freely available at no charge. closed source != !open.
>
> There are many, very strong disadvantages of closed source vs Open  
> Source, but most don't apply to D.
>
> I see only two disadvantages with the DMD backend vs Open Source:
> (1) we carry the risk that something happens to Walter;
> (2) DMD cannot be included in Linux distributions.
>
> But since the front-end is GPLed, these apply only to the backend.
>
> It really seems to be a philosophical objection rather than a practical  
> one. Or else based on a misunderstanding.
>
>

Those who complain about dmd not being open-sourced are those who didn't  
try programming in D. Those who tried complain about dmd bugs.

We've just tried programming with a friend in pair in D, and after  
spending about an hour trying to figure out the program misbehavior we  
understood it was a dmd codegen bug (I'll submit a report shortly). He was  
very angry and said "After so many years being in development this is  
still a b.s. I will never touch this language again". I had nothing to say  
other than I'll submit a bug-report and it will hopefully get fixed.