Hi
I just installed D 2.x.
* Improvement potential #1 -- installer description.
It was not clear to me that the first download is a full offline installer. In ignorance I used the one that downloads from web. The web page can possibly be mucho improved! :-)
* Improvement potential #2 -- Start menu link to help file.
It didn't work. Sorry I didn't check where it pointed, but it started searching for some [index.html]. I found that file by manual searching, plugged it in manual in the search that the link brought up, and all's well that ends well, but this is DEFINITELY an improvement opportunity!
I'll look into this one and make a pull request.
The Start Menu "Documentation" link was to the D1 documentation. If you didn't install D1 the link was broken.
I have two other pull requests for the installer:
It'd be nice if all three of these could get merged before 2.058.
Regards,
Brad Anderson
* Improvement potential #3 -- Linker executable name.
The name [link.exe] conflicts with Microsoft's linker. Please name it [optlink.exe]. I just renamed it and fixed the options file, but this is not just an improvement opportunity, it's more on the MUST end of the scale: it is very impractical to have such a needless name clash.
* Improvement potential #4 -- Standard options for tools.
Why have "-quiet" for the compiler and "-nologo" for the linker? Standardizing options across the toolset is a very nice improvement opportunity. Also, it would be nice if the linker refrained from reporting all about itself when it encounters an error.
* Improvement potential #5 -- The description of Windows prog.
Following main site's links to [http://d-programming-language.org/windows.html], I found a real monstrosity as an example of purportedly simplest possible Windows GUI program. It's almost funny. Here is mine:
<code>
import std.c.windows.windows;
void main()
{
MessageBoxW( null, "Text", "Caption", MB_OK | MB_ICONINFORMATION );
}
</code>
And here is how I built it:
<example>
[d:\dev\test\d]
> dmd minimal_gui.d -L-subsystem:windows
[d:\dev\test\d]
> dumpbin /headers minimal_gui.exe | find /i "sub"
3.10 subsystem version
2 subsystem (Windows GUI)
[d:\dev\test\d]
> minimal.d
</example>
Maybe with DMD tools something potentially bad happens here. However, with extant C++ compilers (and even old Borland C++ 5.5) this way of doing things works splendidly. So here is a definite improvement potential for the web site page with the monstrous code, and if the current tools don't handle it well, also for the the toolset. :-)
Cheers & hth.,
- Alf (at very beginning of checking out the D language)
Regards,
Brad Anderson