Linus' idea of "good taste" code

[Joakim via Digitalmars-d]

On Sunday, 30 October 2016 at 10:04:02 UTC, Patrick Schluter 
wrote:
> On Sunday, 30 October 2016 at 06:39:42 UTC, Joakim wrote:
>>
>> It is not worth it, the web is dying.  I was stunned to see 
>> this chart of mobile web usage in the US:
>>
>> https://mobile.twitter.com/asymco/status/777915894659964928
>>
>> This isn't some third-world country with mostly 2G usage, the 
>> web numbers in those places are much worse. Combined with 
>> mobile passing even TV for time spent, there is no point in 
>> wasting time porting D to a dying platform.
>
> Yes, because outside of web on mobile nothing else exists... 
> bwahahahah

Pretty soon it won't:

https://mobile.twitter.com/asymco/status/793401867053195264

On Sunday, 30 October 2016 at 16:35:54 UTC, Laeeth Isharc wrote:
> And wouldn't the changes to runtime and phobos be quite similar 
> for both dmd and ldc? I don't see how the work flow would be 
> any different as a language user whether you used an LDC with 
> wasm back end,  or dmd with similar.

The changes to druntime and phobos wouldn't depend on the 
compiler used, but it is difficult to test unless you have a 
compiler with working codegen, so that usually comes first.  You 
can go ahead and make changes to druntime- not much has to be 
done for phobos, as the idea is to encapsulate platform-specific 
code in druntime, though a minority of phobos does call 
platform-specific APIs- based on the spec or available headers, 
but you won't know if it will work well till you can run it.

> Joakim - native on mobile is so much better (setting aside 
> having to deal with Apple or Google)   but I guess the browser 
> isn't going away on the desktop for a while yet.

I'm actually a heavy web user, have been for almost a 
quarter-century (though I don't use webapps, mostly reading), 
which is why that chart was so surprising to me.  While native 
mobile apps are usually more responsive, they are not ideal for 
reading, as I'm not going to install and load up The Verge's app, 
or an app for every other news site, every time.

The problem for the desktop browser is that the desktop is going 
away, as the linked tweet above shows.  I went from using a 
FreeBSD desktop and a dumbphone five years ago to an Android 
smartphone and two Android tablets today, ie no desktop or laptop 
since my ultrabook died late last year.  In my household, we went 
from using two smartphones, two PC laptops, and a Mac laptop four 
years ago to three smartphones, three Android tablets, and a Mac 
laptop today.

This is a shift that is happening in most households, as a PC 
overserves most and a mobile device will do.  Many D users are 
power users who cling to old tech like the desktop and the web, 
so they are missing this massive wave going on right now.  I 
myself missed the death of the mobile web, as I'm such a heavy 
user.