Why is D unpopular?

[H. S. Teoh]

On Mon, May 30, 2022 at 06:34:54PM +0000, mee6 via Digitalmars-d wrote:
[...]
> For D, it really is spread out thin. Only D had 2 standard libraries.
> Only D has 3 separate compilers.

I honestly can't understand why this keeps coming up. There has not been
2 standard libraries for at least 10 years, and yet this historical
spectre never ceases to return from the grave at regular intervals.

And D is the only language where having multiple compilers is said to be
a bad thing.  C, for example, probably has hundreds of different
compilers, yet we never hear anyone complain about why C is bad because
it has so many compilers.  Or C++, for that matter.  Yet for D this is
somehow one of the biggest nails in its supposed coffin.  Tellingly
enough, back in the days when dmd was the only compiler, people were
singing lamentations on why having only one compiler was bad.  And now
this.  Let the reader draw his own conclusions. ;-)

I'm really tempted to use the T word here, but I'll refrain. :-P


> Copying rust with @live when D has a GC.

Yeah, this one definitely feels bolted on after the fact.  A lot of core
features in D were designed with GC in mind, and the recent efforts to
reverse that heritage (or at least make it optional anyway) has led to
nothing but pain, friction, and compounding language complexity.  But
hey, the customer clamors for no GC / optional GC, so what can one say?
Reminds me of that joke about ordering spaghetti without the noodles...


T

-- 
Answer: Because it breaks the logical sequence of discussion. / Question: Why is top posting bad?