Why is D unpopular?

[forkit]

On Monday, 30 May 2022 at 18:58:38 UTC, H. S. Teoh wrote:
>
> ...
> 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. ;-)
> ...

The problem with 'multiple compilers' is the concept of 
'implementation defined' behaviours.

With a single compiler, implementation defined behaviours, which 
would of course exist, are contained to the 'one' compiler, which 
has obvious benefits for developers, and their customers (and C# 
is a prime example), as well as the compiler developers and the 
language designers.

Of course people like Stroustrup strongly support and argue for 
the idea of multiple compilers, but his views/arguments really 
reflect the legacy of C and C++. I don't know that they are 
relevant to the future ;-)

I don't argue against multiple compilers per se. I argue against 
compilers having 'different' definitions of behaviours of the 
same language.

I would like to understand whether this is also a problem with 
the D programming language (I don't know that it is, but I'd like 
to know). If it is a problem, then (to keep in context with the 
subject of this thread), perhaps it is a reason why D is 
unpopular, given the problems it has created in the C/C++ world 
of programming.