D as A Better C?

[Steven Schveighoffer]

On Tue, 11 Feb 2014 14:43:02 -0500, Walter Bright  
<newshound2 at digitalmars.com> wrote:

> I've toyed with this idea for a while, and wondered what the interest  
> there is in something like this.
>
> The idea is to be able to use a subset of D that does not require any of  
> druntime or phobos - it can be linked merely with the C standard  
> library. To that end, there'd be a compiler switch (-betterC) which  
> would enforce the subset.
>
> (First off, I hate the name "better C", any suggestions?)

-cruntime

> The subset would disallow use of any features that rely on:
>
> 1. moduleinfo
> 2. exception handling
> 3. gc
> 4. Object
>
> I've used such a subset before when bringing D up on a new platform, as  
> the new platform didn't have a working phobos.
>
> What do you think?

I think it is a very good idea. I think an allocator that wraps malloc  
would be appropriate at least, since malloc calls are so clunky and  
verbose.

-Steve