I agree that it is strange that, in all of the discussions surrounding relatively modern languages, and new technologies, while nim and rust and many others frequently get mentioned, so rarely it seems that anyone talks about D. Wonder why that is? I’m genuinely curious.
Because D is effectively dead/has lost its momentum completely?
If you look at the development surrounding D, the stdlib got its allocator module around 5 years back IIRC in experimental. It is still not stable. Same for many other modules. Due to lack of resources not much work is being poured into the stdlib. Same for developer tooling, some people have created ide tools and stuff, however they are not AST based and so most of the things that should work don't work.
Yet, instead of pouring resources into these issues, the resources are poured into developing 3 compilers dmd, gcc based d, and llvm based d.
Also, the readability issue posted by the op are subjective. To me, and many others, Nim is much much more readable and elegant than C/D/C++/Rust.
Also regarding OP's
>Many advertised features have been present in D for a long time.
Nim has macros and many features are based on or around macros, whereas D will never get macros. IIRC D uses reflection based stuff?
> I seriously doubt that Nim or any other language in this regard has better metaprogramming than D.
Well, you are wrong (Unless you like reflection more than macros). Nim, haxe, etc. languages have very powerful AST based macros.
Are you the same person who attacked ppl on D forum. The nickname is familiar and the style ;)
Chill. All languages have dusty corners and given the amount of ppl D has it's obvious that not all things are fixed in time but they were and they will, history already proved it. Besides, complaining is easier right?
> Are you the same person who attacked ppl on D forum
Nope. I am the person who asked about dlang VS plugin and new ds module recently. I don't remember attacking anybody.
> All languages have dusty corners and given the amount of ppl D has it's obvious that not all things are fixed in time but they were and they will, history already proved it.
Well, it was you guys who asked why D is not discussed/used more. I just gave my honest opinion. D's ide tooling is very bad compared to newer languages, even Zig. It's stdlib is not being worked on. Now, what do you expect? Why would people use D? How is creating 3 compilers not a waste of resources when there are 2 important issues that are not being worked on by anybody? Do you think more people/orgs will flock to D because it has 3 compilers even though its tooling is very bad?
> Besides, complaining is easier right?
I don't like how this is posted everywhere somebody points out flaws in something. I am not a compiler developer. I don't have much knowledge about low level stuff. I want to use a programming language for my field of expertise. If the language/ecosystem is not good for that, what do you expect me to do? Do you want me to leave everything aside, set apart 2 years for learning compilers and how its tooling is made. Then leave everything aside for 2 more years, and start contributing to D. Is this what you want me to do?
When you release a project, if you want it to be used by people, it is your responsibility to make sure that it is usable. It is not the customer's responsibility to fix the product.
Look man, I intend no disrespect to anybody. I respect walter and other people. However, what I said is a fact. D/Nim/Crystal etc. have few to no resources for development. It is upto their leads to prioritise things for sustainability. I understand how difficult it is for a project this size. But, you people can't be putting the blame on people like me for not contributing to the project or for saying that the reason why people not use D is because its tooling is nonexistent and its stdlib is dead. AFAIK, many core people also agree that dmd should be deprecated and focus/resources should be put elsewhere.
Ok. But going back to the issue. I live in Munich and know at least two big companies who use D in production and organize meetups. I have yet to see a single company that uses Nim.
Well, mainly Status.im uses Nim, and there is one based in China I think (Some of their employees are regulars in the Nim gitter/irc/discord). Also, there is https://github.com/nim-lang/Nim/wiki/Companies-using-Nim , though I don't know how up to date it is.
Anyhow, there is not much jobs for either nim/d/haxe/... So, they are mostly used for personal projects. I wanted to use D however it didn't work out, so onto other languages :(
Basically, D was too little, too late, with a lack of build tools, while Rust, Nim etc are designed from the beginning to have certain features and have easy to use build tools like cargo.
There is a perception that D has shot its bolt, having been around for quite some time without making a noticeable impact, either by itself or by influencing the mainstream.
Depends on where do you read ;) But tbo D community concentrates around D forum and in majority consists of former C/C++ veterans. Being a younger language Nim lures younger and active members who probably never heard of D anyway.
Historically D never advertised itself enough imho and that is a shame. I blame the lack of proper leadership and management at the start. Its early development progress has been a rocky ride many languages would not survive at all but it did and for me personally it's a testament to its maturity and resilience newer languages still have to prove.
