On 08/25/2012 08:36 PM, Andrew McKinlay wrote:
His post comes down to: "I like to have an IDE and I prefer Java
because I already know Java."
Just for the record, I am no particular fan of the Java language - it's
weak, boring, and often tedious.
Any "loyalty" to Java that I have is not
because I already know it, but because it is a robust, stable,
performant platform with a rich ecosystem of libraries and tools. I am
very open to new languages. I learnt Java from scratch several years ago
for a specific project. Other than that I have primarily used C++. I am
always looking at language alternatives like Scala, Clojure, Erlang, and D.
You're right that I like to have an IDE. But I think that applies to a
large percentage of programmers.
I fully admit to being a newbie at D and because of that I may be making
incorrect judgements.
Oh, I am certainly not claiming that the judgements are incorrect. You
should use whatever works for you.
However, keep in mind that every newcomer to D
will be in the same position. If a language scares away newcomers, then
it will have trouble gaining traction.
This is perfectly fine of course, but why would this be relevant for D
development?
One relevance to D development may be that there are a lot of Java
developers out there who are a potential source of converts.
Well, Java is a huge platform as well as a language. Furthermore, the
fact that the language feels weak, boring and often tedious is probably
a significant part of the reason it has been successful. I wouldn't
expect many people intimately familiar with the Java platform to
convert to D.
Right or wrong, they are going to make many of the same comparisons as me.
Exactly. What I mean by 'because I already know Java' is, that those
comparisons will naturally be somewhat biased towards what
the developer already knows. It is not really a matter of right or
wrong. A programmer is likely to (attempt to) apply patterns that work
well in a language he is familiar with.
All the things I mention can (and I'm sure will) be improved - the
garbage collector, the libraries, the tools, etc.
Just to be clear, I would love to see D be successful.
I think the blog post is entirely reasonable.
I was reacting mostly to Bjoern's statement "IMO a voice, D core
developers should listen to.", whose nature I may have misunderstood.
The point is, I don't think it is lacking on insight which efforts
might be worth following, it is more a matter of having enough
sufficiently skilled people dedicate their limited spare time. ;)
