D is our last hope

[Adam D Ruppe]

On Thursday, 21 December 2023 at 12:29:25 UTC, Mike Parker wrote:
> Alright, this is getting out of hand.

It has been out of hand for *years*. Nice that you're finally 
recognizing it, too late for several quality contributors. Not 
too late for me....yet.

Phobos had a big inrush of development many years ago, but since 
then it has been a trickle, leaving wide gaps in functionality 
and questionable design that everyone agrees should be changed, 
yet it remains entrenched. Sure, some nice things are added, some 
bugs fixed, but they are few and far between. Is this because of 
a lack of people power? No! There's lots of people willing, some 
even *eager* to contribute to Phobos, but they are instead turned 
away or given contradictory requirements that are impossible to 
fulfill even with a million dollar budget, and certainly not 
going to happen with volunteer time.

The state of D documentation is still a mess - the official 
website still has two versions of the docs, both of which are 
broken in their own ways, and it has been.... i think about 9 
years now just sitting like that. The bugs in ddox have never 
been fixed, the decision to transition just sitting in limbo. Is 
this because of a lack of people power? No! I cared enough to fix 
it myself 7 years ago. Spent about a hundred hours over my 
Christmas break doing it. Got rejected with a message where they 
openly admitted they didn't bother looking at it.

Language bugs and features that have been in popular demand for 
ages sit unmerged. Is this because of a lack of people power? No! 
The discussions have been had, the code written. All the dictator 
has to do is lift his arbitrary holds and let the PR manager 
click the green button. Instead, more red tape gets added to the 
tangle until the ongoing time commitment to keep rebasing the PRs 
is proven to be a sunk cost fallacy, throwing good time after 
bad, and the contributors quit trying.

This has been the pattern repeated, over and over again, since 
before I joined the D. Remember Tango?

Insomuch as there is a lack of people power, it is the *result* 
of D's dysfunctional development, not the cause.

With all the talk about IVY and reformation this year, I really 
hoped things would be different.

Well, the year isn't over yet. There might still be hope.

> So, let's be clear, Adam isn't being ignored here. Walter is 
> going to review the spec once Atila finishes it. And then he 
> will make a decision on it.

The problem is that the entire D community is help up because one 
stubborn fool is held up by the rest of you as a "dictator".

> I'm sorry that Adam feels it isn't happening fast enough, but 
> his string interpolation implementation is not the only thing 
> that needs attention right now. It's going to get a fair shake, 
> even if it doesn't happen as quickly as he or anyone else would 
> like.

It would take about five seconds to click the button and move on 
to the next issue. Don't pretend this is some necessary process 
imposed by God that must be followed to the letter. You all are 
*choosing* to waste gobs of multiple people's time over an 
arbitrary hold.

You could choose instead to ... just not do that.