Why isn’t 2.110 published?

[Steven Schveighoffer]

On Monday, 18 November 2024 at 18:13:16 UTC, Lance Bachmeier 
wrote:
> On Sunday, 17 November 2024 at 22:24:03 UTC, Steven 
> Schveighoffer wrote:
>
>> I think it's disingenuous to treat a lack of release as a lack 
>> of progress. As it so happens in this case, it's the fact we 
>> rely currently on one person to do the release, and it's a 
>> very non-automated process. That is going to be remedied.
>
> That's not what I'm doing. The exact phrase was "it's reached 
> the point that the lack of manpower allows something like this 
> to happen". We recently had discussions about Visual D and GtkD 
> being dead.

The reports of VisualD's death have been greatly exaggerated.

https://github.com/dlang/visuald/commits/master/

GtkD, I'm not sure about, I don't use it. Looks like it has 
activity about 5 months ago.

> These are major projects and nobody's picked them up. 
> Contributors have left and nobody's taken their place.

I don't know that "contributors have left" in the case of 
VisualD, but I can say that at least for my projects, none of 
them are "dead", even though in some cases I haven't updated them 
in years.

I've picked up several projects that people have left. raylib-d I 
just yesterday was probably the second binding to update to the 
new 5.5 release. mysql-native I also manage, but it has been 
languishing for a while with not much time for me to work on it. 
But it's pretty solid, I use it for one of may work projects.

A project being abandoned doesn't mean it's dead forever. Open 
source gives anyone the opportunity to pick it back up. And 
sometimes, things don't get updated because they *just work*.

> Adam left to work on his fork. The list of problems could go on 
> but I don't have time for that discussion. And now a release is 
> nearly four months late.

Adam is still working on his projects, which are still written in 
D. Maybe at some point it will purposely break with upstream? I 
don't know. I tend to doubt it, but I could be wrong.

The release delay is not based on any kind of abandonment. I 
think there has been too much read into this, it's not a usual 
situation.

>> I think either you are not looking at the right metrics,
>
> I can't imagine anyone comparing the current situation to where 
> things were six or eight years ago and not be deeply concerned.

I am not deeply concerned. I'm actually pretty positive on the 
outlook.

D is somewhat special in that a very few amount of people can 
manage huge projects. It's also a curse that the ecosystem can 
change rapidly based on the whims of a few.

The compiler is going strong. The ecosystem is continually 
improving. ImportC will open up new doors that make things even 
easier. PhobosV3 looks like a good opportunity to clean up the 
library. I hope editions can be finalized soon, but when that 
happens, it will make things drastically easier to change.

D is one of 9 supported languages in gcc. LDC gives world class 
optimization support for bleeding-edge D code, as it is released 
soon after the DMD release.

12 years ago I had to create an embedded server on a small ARM 
board. I chose C++ over D, because D just didn't have the 
capabilities.

Today, I would pick D without question. I know there are others 
who also are exploring this area.

I've been helping to develop a new GC for D, and in this, my 
usual mode of debugging using writeln statements just wouldn't 
cut it. I've been extremely impressed by the support of D in gdb.

>> or you have some other reason to be leaving D.
>
> I'm not leaving D. I've moved projects to other languages if 
> others are involved.

Apologies for misreading here!

> I cannot look at the current state of affairs and tell someone 
> else they should use D.

I am the opposite. I have taught a class of brand-new programmers 
to use D. I think there is potential for D with the right 
motivated people to be the go-to solution for an entire segment 
of programming. It just hasn't happened yet.

People join the Discord all the time, and say "how come I haven't 
heard of D before, it's amazing!"

I truly don't understand the doom-and-gloom sentiment from 
long-time D users, I see nothing but improvement.

Anyway, I get that these kinds of uncertainties can be 
demotivating, but it just bugs me when people post sad 
predictions of failure when everything usually has a reasonable 
explanation.

Don't get me wrong, there are some losses which are tough, I can 
count a few contributors that I am sad they have left, and I know 
they have left permanently. I have faith that the things they are 
no longer doing can be picked up by others.

I want to say something else, something I was just telling a 
group of students recently: when it comes to programming, learn 
whatever you want. If you want to learn D, learn D. If you want 
to learn python, learn python. If you want to learn brainfuck, 
you should think twice, but sure, go ahead! All of these skills 
will just add to your experience and your knowledge. I see a lot 
of fear of learning some language or framework or library because 
it won't further their career. I can't see how that's possible. 
Even if you don't end up using the language/framework/etc, the 
act of learning it opens new ideas and opportunities for growth!

-Steve