exceptions vs error codes

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad via Digitalmars-d]

On Monday, 11 July 2016 at 04:27:35 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
> On 7/10/2016 10:03 AM, Ola Fosheim Grøstad wrote:
>> Yes, this has been discussed quite heavily in the past. It is 
>> both
>> possible and a good idea, but it won't happen. This is quite 
>> typical for
>> possible and good ideas around here... :-)
>
>
> When has D ever done anything right in your eyes? Just curious!

The original plan, to redo C++ by creating a simpler formulation 
of the same programming model was a good plan.

Inheriting many of the same problems as C++ and adding a slew of 
new ones was not the best move. In the case of exceptions you 
could've done better as you could generate meta-information that 
go beyond the dumb C++ manual include-file + basic linkage model. 
No need for D exceptions to choose the slow C++ exception 
handling version.

You made D incompatible with C++, yet is trying too hard to make 
it a little bit compatible with it. I think you should make a 
choice, either make D fully compatible or cut all ties. Modern 
C++ is 80% header files and templates, linkage does not get you 
much compatibility these days.