Dart and D: features that could be used in D, D->dart for web programming

[Asman01]

On Thursday, 27 February 2014 at 10:27:41 UTC, Timothee Cour 
wrote:
> A1)
> Google's Dart (https://www.dartlang.org) looks like a very 
> promising
> replacement for javascript. It can compile to javascript to 
> ensure
> portability (but chromium runs it natively) but the language 
> itself reminds
> more of D to a surprising extent. Dart language has features 
> such as:
>
>
> static typing (but can also have dynamic typing, akin to 
> std.variant, with
> better support/syntax than D)
> ahead of time compilation
> unicode support
> built in serialization/deserialization via json
> annotations
> mixins (used to emulate multiple inheritance)
> generics
> vector/AA litterals
> alias (called typedef in dart), is, assert
> try/catch/finally
> operator overloading
> properties (same parenthesis-less caller syntax as in D)
> delegates (called closures)
> nesting functions, 1st class functions, lambda => syntax
> DDOC (called dartdoc)
> D-like syntax and nesting comments,
> introspection (runtime only AFAIK)
>
> A2)
> Also features that would be nice to have in D or were better 
> designed than
> in D:
>
> * cascade operations: they perform a series of operations on 
> the members of
> a single object:
> foo.bar(1)..baz(3)
> equivalent to:
> foo.bar(1)
> foo.baz(3)
>
> * better way to define default constructors:
> class Point {
>   num x;
>   num y;
>   num z;
>   // Syntactic sugar for setting z and x before the constructor 
> body runs.
>   Point(this.z, this.x){...}
> }
> This is more explicit and flexible than D's way for default 
> struct
> constructors, which can only allow to set all fields in order, 
> without
> skipping some, and doesn't allow to do anything else in the 
> ctor.
>
> * named constructors
>
> * distinguish integer divide (~/) vs divide (/), so that 5/2=2, 
> 5~/2=2
>
> * shorthand function declaration with => (used not just for 
> lambdas)
>
> * for (var x in collection) //better syntax than 
> foreach(var;collection)
>
> * better syntax for optional positional arguments:
> void fun(int x, [int y, int z=3]){...}
> Thinking of which, this would actually solve a long standing 
> problem in D,
> that of specifying optional parameters AFTER a variadic 
> template:
> void fun(T...)(T args, [string file=__FILE__,int 
> line=__LINE__]){...}
>
> * export for libraries
>
> * async/wait etc
>
> * great IDE/debugger/package manager/static analyzer
>
> also the following which I've previously proposed adding to D:
>
> * string interpolation $variableName (or ${expression})
> assert('foo. ${s.toUpperCase()} bar' == 'foo. STRING 
> INTERPOLATION bar');
>
> * optional named parameters arguments (with simplest possible 
> syntax)
>
> * import all except specified symbols:
> import 'package:lib2/lib2.dart' hide foo; // Import all names 
> EXCEPT foo.
>
> A3)
> And then some design decisions which wouldn't work for D: 
> everything is an
> object, no struct (just class), VM, etc.
>
> A4)
> there were may previous threads regarding using D on the web 
> via compiling
> to javascript. In light of this it would seem a lot easier to 
> compile D to
> dart.


I've hear that Microsoft's equivalent so-called TypeScript was 
more successfully than Google's one, more people like much more 
TypeScript syntax and features, like I do.