Why is D unpopular?

[Max Samukha]

On Sunday, 1 May 2022 at 08:14:34 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:

>
> Of interpreters that later generated native code. Not the other 
> way around.

I don't quite understand why you insist on native code. Do 
compilers to bytecode count? There used to be a language called 
Nemerle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemerle), which had been 
mentioned on these forums many times, long before D got CTFE. The 
earliest mention I found is 
https://forum.dlang.org/post/ca56h1$2k4h$1@digitaldaemon.com. It 
had very powerful macros, which could be used as compile time 
functions, AST macros, and whatnot. The language is now dead 
because it was too good for humans.

>
>> However, I was responding to the other of your claims, which 
>> is - nobody asked for CTFE. I doubt it because the factorial 
>> implemented with templates is the first thing a new-born C++ 
>> programmer sees, and her first words are "Template 
>> metaprogramming is an abomination. Why can't we just evaluate 
>> functions at compile time?".
>
> You would think they would have, as many said it was an 
> abomination. But they never said the next.
>
> There were many, many articles about using C++ templates as a 
> Turing complete programming language. Find one that said "why 
> can't we ..."
>
> Find one and I'll buy you a beer at DConf!

I think Nemerle deserves a case of beer.