The reference D compiler is now open source (dlang.org)

By Vasudev Ram


Just saw this discussion on HN:

DMD, the reference D compiler is now open source (dlang.org)

It is about this news about the D language:

dmd Backend converted to Boost License

I read part of the discussion, and also commented. As often happens, though the original post is about the change in the licensing of the back=end of the DMD compiler (Digital Mars D), the thread devolved (partly at least) into a discussion of the pros and cons of D versus some other languages, and that kind of thread is often interesting.

Updating the post to add:

- Link to this post on programming.reddit.com about the news:

The Official D Compiler Is Now Free (as in "freedom")

- As user bionsuba says there:

[ bionsuba[S] 30 points 4 hours ago
The front end as been Boost licensed for several years now. But now the backend has been relicensed thanks to Symantec giving their permission.
This has big implications for the language as a whole, as the compiler can now be included in Linux package managers. Meaning, D programs can be distributed on those same package managers. There's also the possibility that DMD can become part of the default packages on a distro! ]

And Andrei Alexandrescu (of Modern C++ Design fame), who now works with Walter Bright on the D language, adds:

[ andralex 16 points 3 hours ago
We will discuss more details and implications of the impact of open sourcing the compiler at DConf in Berlin in May. Registration is open! ]

Update 2 to add:

I'm putting below, an Ask HN thread that I had started some months ago. It got some interesting replies:

Ask HN: What are you using D (language) for?

The replies give some examples of non-trivial things that D can be used for.

Update 3 to add:

As Walter Bright say here, it's the #1 story on HN at the moment (and for a while now).

- Vasudev Ram - Online Python training and consulting

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Interview: Ruminations on D: Walter Bright, DLang creator

By Vasudev Ram

I read this interview yesterday:

Ruminations on D: An Interview with Walter Bright (creator of the D programming language).

(Walter Bright (Wikipedia))

The interview also links to this talk between Walter and Andrei Alexandrescu, of Modern C++ fame, who joined Walter to work on D (after working at Facebook for some time)) about a D project, warp (a C++ preprocessor), that Walter did for Facebook; the talk is about the D benefits Walter found while working on the project (such as the ease of changing the data structures to try different approaches, and how the ranges and the algorithms that operate upon them are somewhat decoupled).

(Andrei Alexandrescu (Wikipedia))

HN thread about the interview.

You can also check out this video, about the creators or key team members of 4 languages, C++, D, Golang and Rust, talking at LangNext '14:

Video: C++, Rust, D and Go: Panel at LangNext '14

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Video: C++, Rust, D and Go: Panel at LangNext '14

By Vasudev Ram

I recently came across this video of a panel discussion (in 2014) on modern systems programming languages. Yes, I know the term is controversial. Andrei and Rob say something about it. See the video.

The languages discussed are: C++, D, Go and Rust, by a panel at LangNext '14.

The panel consisted of key team members from the teams working on those languages:

- Bjarne Stroustrup for C++
- Andrei Alexandrescu for D
- Rob Pike for Go
- Niko Matsakis for Rust

(that's by language name in alphabetical order :)

Here is the video embedded below, and a link to it in case the embed does not work for you (sometimes happens).



I have only watched part of it so far (it is somewhat long), but found it interesting.

You can also download it with youtube-dl (written in Python, BTW) or some other video downloading tool, for watching offline. It's about 1.34 GB in size, so plan accordingly.

- Enjoy.

- Vasudev Ram - Online Python training and consulting
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