It really does mystify me what anyone thinks they’re accomplishing by creating a brand new programming language these days. Other than a purely academic exercise, of course.
Whatever features you want your language to have, there’s probably already a language out there that’s damn close to it. And if your ideal language is just like some existing language except for a few niggling details … then there’s no need to start from scratch – just make a modified version of that language with a few little changes to make it act the way you want.
Programming languages are just about a solved problem now, IMO. I can’t imagine any scenario where creating a new language from scratch would be better than tweaking an existing language … or just using an existing language as-is.
D is more than 20 years old (from 2001), so it’s due for a renaissance, Python was also in its 20s before it became fashionable.
It kind of bounces back after the catastrophe that D1 vs D2 and Phobos vs Tango caused, but might be broken by AI bros trying to chase the vibe coding trend.
Many years ago I read the D book and really liked many aspects of the language. What kept me from using it was the ecosystem. They had three compilers and two different standard libraries, none of which were fully compatible with each other which led to a whole bunch of weird problems. These days it’s probably better. Maybe I should give it another chance.
If nothing else, there’s also OpenD, which might be better for you based on your requirements.
Was there drama with D? I’m out of the loop…
Multiple in fact. D1 vs D2, Tango vs Phobos, mutable by default vs const by default (was minor, but allegedly lead to the existence of Rust), Adam D Ruppe leaving and forking the compiler (OpenD - might be useful to you depending on things), “let nazis code” (though DLF have not only backtracked on it but also set up some basic safety measures), etc. Can still recommend the language if you want a more C-style language and not OCaml with curly brackets, or if borrow checker is a dealbreaker for you in Rust.
The Wikipedia article for D links to this blog post which seems pretty damning.
There have been something where some developers left, but I don’t remember it well enough to search for.
I think it’s just a joke about slang aka D for Dick.
This is definitely about the D language, I just haven’t heard anything about in a long time (since Rust ate its lunch) and nothing about it using AI or long time devs leaving.
Did they ever sort out the GC vs nonGC standard library kerfuffle? I was interested in dlang quite awhile ago but the ecosystem seemed fractured (and not big enough for that to be ok)
Yes, they’re letting the community to deal with the noGC part, while Phobos will be strictly GC in the future.
I prefer fetlang
