reddit discussion on replacing Python in 0install

[Walter Bright]

On 6/12/2013 10:07 AM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> On 6/12/13 12:40 PM, Walter Bright wrote:
>> You are proposing that this repeated write of the first sector be done
>> for all file output.
>
> No, he's proposing that only the very first write flushes. Not every write. I'd
> argue it's a bizarre thing to do, but not that it's necessarily slow.

I meant for every file being output.

And, again, it is forcing two writes of the first block, at a minimum. The perf 
cost can be hidden by write caching, but to rely on that is bad design and 
undermines how the I/O system is set up and tuned.

I predict a WTF bug report on this in the future, as someone with an unusual 
device attached is looking for the cause of why his D program writing to it 
behaves badly. Or he just writes it off as "D sux".

There's a *reason* why stdio distinguishes between block devices and character 
devices.