== Quote from Don (nos...@nospam.com)'s article > levenshtein wrote: > > Peter Alexander Wrote: > > > >> On 25/07/10 12:11 PM, levenshtein wrote: > >>> Walter Bright Wrote: > >>> > >>>> Justin Johansson wrote: > >>>>> It sounds like the D PL has invented the range idiom unlike any other > >>>>> PL. > >>>> Pointer programming is deeply embedded into the C++ culture, and > >>>> iterators segue > >>>> nicely into that culture. For D, however, programming revolves around > >>>> arrays, > >>>> and ranges fit naturally into that. > >>>> > >>>> It'll take years, but I'll be very surprised if ranges don't filter into > >>>> many > >>>> major languages, as well as other ideas that D has proven to be solid. > >>> At least the C++ fellows already stole your 'auto' type inference and the new template functionality. C# stole your delegate system. They even use the same terms. The world dominance already started. > >> Not to belittle D, but type inference was around long before D came on > >> the scene, and I don't think they got the use of the auto keyword from D > >> (auto was already an (essentially unused) keyword in C++). > > > > Type inference might have been around, but I believe it was A. > > Alexandrescu's influence that made C++0x adopt the same 'auto' keyword for type inference. You can see here: > > > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C++0x#Type_inference > > > > It's essentially copied from D. Seems funny, but the mighty C++ committee is actually listening to us. > C++0x announced that it was going to use the 'auto' keyword, so D copied > it from C++0x. But D implemented it before C++ did. <g>.
This is my general impression of D as a language. It's not a very innovative language in the sense that everything in it has been done somewhere, in some context, and it breaks no completely new ground. However, its contribution to the programming world is extremely important nonetheless in that it takes the best features from lots of different languages, including some researchy languages that almost noone uses in production, makes them work (more or less) well together and makes them all usable from one **practical, production-oriented** language. Basically, my take as a practical programmer rather than a theoretical comp-sci researcher is "Who cares if it's been done before if it's not implemented in any practical language?".
