Calypso and the future of D

[Abdulhaq via Digitalmars-d]

On Friday, 23 January 2015 at 00:24:45 UTC, Andrei Alexandrescu 
wrote:
> I think it's important that we enable Calypso 
> (https://github.com/Syniurge/Calypso) and related tooling that 
> interfaces D with other languages, notably C++.
>
> A key topic in 2015 for D is playing well with C++. A good C++ 
> interface will give access to a host of mature C++ libraries, 
> starting of course with the C++ standard library. More 
> importantly, it will provide a smooth migration path for 
> organizations that want to do development in D whilst taking 
> advantage of their legacy code.
>

I'm very glad to see this coment from you so that we can get a 
more fully fleshed out vision for where D is heading with C++ 
interop. I for instance have developed Smidgen 
(https://github.com/alynch4047/smidgen) which was to wrap Qt. 
However, I halted development (having made very good progress, I 
believe) due to feeling that it could easily be superceded by a 
more direct interface to C++ such as Calypso seems to be.

These efforts do amount to a lot of work and need commitment (to 
their architecture) at the top level too. For instance, I needed 
weak references which I have had to work around, without any 
feeling that the workaround would continue to work with future 
changes to the GC. I forget the details but I also had concerns 
relating to GCed objects being relocated.

Calypso sounds fantastic but seems very tied to one compiler - we 
all need to know if yourself and Walter are content with that, 
for instance.

Getting a plan out there so that everyone can pull in one 
direction would be great.