Is D more cryptic than C++?

[Abrahm]

"Jonathan M Davis" <jmdavisProg at gmx.com> wrote in message 
news:mailman.1217.1322715788.24802.digitalmars-d at puremagic.com...
> On Wednesday, November 30, 2011 22:32:51 Abrahm wrote:
>> "Jesse Phillips" <jessekphillips+d at gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:jb6qfv$1kut$1 at digitalmars.com...
>>
>> > What bearophile was referring to was the use of templates is common.
>>
>> Are you sure about that? What say you Bear?
>>
>> > D's
>> > templates have the advantage of being easier on the eyes and more
>> > powerful (with the inclusion of 'static if' in the language).
>>
>> Having "come from" C++land, and knowing what some people do with it,
>> making it EASIER to apply templates does not seem necessarily a good
>> thing to me. (Ref: template metaprogramming). That said, does your
>> statement above about D's template machinery being "powerful" etc., 
>> mean
>> "it's easier to do template metaprogramming in D"? If so, I, 
>> personally,
>> do not find that any asset at all (though I know some surely will, for
>> there have been books written on that "abhorrence").
>
> Andrei Alexadrescu, the author of Modern C++ (_the_ book on template
> metaprogramming), is one of the leaders in the D community.

He used to be a C++ guy though. I know, because one of his books. He 
couldn't handle C++, so he moved to D. Noted. ;)

> There is no
> question that D's templates are intended to be able to do powerful
> metaprogramming.

"powerful" is a weasel word or something similar.

> However, much of what would be truly disgusting in C++ is
> incredibly simple in D such that it isn't an abhorrence at all.

Ha! Optimizing bad practice does not good practice make.

> You don't have
> to constantly fight templates

I never have, and I use them.

> to be able to do anything fancy.

There ya go. You need "something fancy", I don't. You want all the knobs 
and buttons on the front of the audio equipment, even a programming 
language to make sense of it, while I would rather just listen to some 
music. So, no need to try and sell me on "fancy". "Fancy" is a bad thing 
if I am doing the critiquing (of a PL, not of a ... nevermind!).

> Instead, the
> resulting code is much more intuitive and maintainable.

So, the missing book is: "Deciphering Crap Code". Hmm?

>
> However, aside from template constraints, the primary use of templates 
> in D
> (at least in the standard library) is generally related to simply 
> making
> functions more generic, not trying to do excessively complicated stuff.

Noted: YOU noted that as AN ASIDE. Speaks volumes.

>
> Templates in D are absolutely fantastic in comparison to C++'s 
> templates and
> are a _major_ boon IMHO.

Okie dokie then. We won't be engaging much, I can fortell already.

>
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7300298/metaprogramming-in-c-and-in-d
>

WRONG answer Dave.