On Tuesday, 12 January 2016 at 21:08:30 UTC, Jason Jeffory wrote:
(I should mention that I am exaggerating a bit, and some of the complaints about D are actually more directed to the programming community in general. D has the same fundamental issues though and it is just a matter of scale. Programming is way more fun when you are actually programming and getting the job done rather than fighting things that should work but don't. As programmers, we get used to that crap.. specially those that programmed in the 70's and 80's... but it doesn't mean it's ok. Specially when we know how to fix it. I really like the D language but the D tool chain should be more user friendly to work with on every level.)
I think there's another side of this in that what is an issue for one person isn't necessarily an issue for another. For example, your difficulties with static linking... you aren't the first person to have this problem, but I personally never have. It all seems quite straight forward to me. I was annoyed by the COFF/OMF issue when I first started using D, sure, and that's what prompted me to start Derelict), but it's never been a problem that prevented me from building my D projects.
The way to solve this particular sort of problem is to have more documentation, or tutorials, but that requires someone with the time and motivation to write it. People who aren't having that problem are going to be motivated to direct their time and energy elsewhere. So I don't see this as an issue of "getting used to" a bad situation, just one of varying opinions about what part of the situation is bad.
I'm going to make an effort toward improving the situation with my learningd.org site. Linking with C libraries would be a good topic for a tutorial to go there. There is also some movement behind the scenes right now to create a comprehensive web site for teaching all things D, but it's going to be after the next DConf before any concrete effort is made in that direction.
As for the toolchain... Until there is a dedicated team with a clear goal-oriented task list and the management necessary to keep development focused on those tasks, then development will go in the direction that the core contributors feel they need to direct their efforts. Anyone can champion a new cause in D's development, and several have over the years. That's what has driven the project forward. There have been many, many, many discussions over the years about how unfriendly D is to new users, or how difficult it is to get up and running with this or that aspect of the toolchain. Most of them have resulted in improvements. As a long time D user, I can tell you that you kids have it much better than we did back in the day.
So things will get easier with time. Pre-D experience is what determines the degree of difficulty in getting started with D right now. For example, programmers who are comfortable with the command line, particularly when using C or C++, tend to have few difficulties with the toolchain. I'm hoping that the recent creation of the D Foundation will create opportunities to make it easier for /anyone/ to hit the ground running with D.
