Its important to review decisions every once in a while, so, why am I tolerating d?

Last year my answer was its the best template language, c++ is ugly as sin and compiles slow, rust is even worse. My goal is to be where I believe sanity is and that is extreme metaprogramming on iterators(api between data and functions) preferably ranges(3 functions primitive, relating to for loops; optional extensions for array-like behaviors when possible); with an extensive std pushing the boundaries.

Is that still true?

preemptive responses to ovisous candidates:

go: go only implements generics and is very irritating about "unused code"; generics are not a replacement for template hell.

swift: I worry about the apple connection(even if its weakening) and when I google swift iterators" it seems to be the oo take.

c3: Im unsure how strong ast marcos are? can anyone claim they are as flexable as templates

zig: zig while fantastic, lacks a fundamental piece, metaprogramming

On Wednesday, 7 August 2024 at 19:44:57 UTC, monkyyy wrote:

I really, really like D's templating and metaprogramming. You get the engine bits and wiring in under the hood, and then the front-facing interface is clean and expressive, with a huge amount of the work being done compile-time. It's just way more fun to work in than anything else.

@TABLE("characters")
struct Character {
	enum Class {
		NULL, FIGHTER, KNIGHT, ARCHER, MAGE, HEALER
	}
	enum Elements {
		NONE = 0,
		EARTH = 1<<0,
		AIR   = 1<<1,
		FIRE  = 1<<2,
		WATER = 1<<3,
	}
	@NULLABLE @PRIMARY int id; // auto_increment
	string name;
	@ENUMSTRING @COLUMN("class") Class cClass;
	int rarity;
	@ENUMSTRING Elements elements;
	SysTime mdate;
}

void main() {
	auto db = DBH("chars.db"); // SQLite

	auto table = db.createTable!Character;
	table.insert(Character(name: "Bob", cClass: Character.Class.KNIGHT, mdate: Clock.currTime));
	table.insert(Character(name: "Joe", elements: Character.Elements.EARTH | Character.Elements.FIRE, mdate: Clock.currTime));

	auto sth = db.query("SELECT * FROM characters;");
	foreach (chara; sth.as!Character) {
		writeln(chara.toStringer);
		auto u = chara.updater;
		u.mdate = Clock.currTime;
		db.update(u);
	}
}

Character(id:1, name:"Bob", cClass:KNIGHT, rarity:0, elements:NONE, mdate:2024-Aug-09 00:18:05.457)
Character(id:2, name:"Joe", cClass:NULL, rarity:0, elements:EARTH|FIRE, mdate:2024-Aug-09 00:18:05.465)

sqlite> SELECT * FROM characters;
┌────┬──────┬────────┬────────┬────────────┬───────────────┐
│ id │ name │ class  │ rarity │  elements  │     mdate     │
├────┼──────┼────────┼────────┼────────────┼───────────────┤
│ 1  │ Bob  │ KNIGHT │ 0      │ NONE       │ 1723130285473 │
│ 2  │ Joe  │ NULL   │ 0      │ EARTH,FIRE │ 1723130285482 │
└────┴──────┴────────┴────────┴────────────┴───────────────┘

I'm aching to improve this some more if we could get a fix to allow this:

void foo(Nullable!int d) {}
foo(3); // compilation error

On Thursday, 8 August 2024 at 15:31:11 UTC, cc wrote:

I cant mantain 1000 projects, or 100 projects or probably even 12, can I manage 3?. I love the meta programming, but I feel its wasted without major pushes to make generic code.

Templates come at a steep cost I dont think your getting a return if you reuse a block of code 3 times(an over estimation, even filter may not be used in every project), and thats my templates the std and the official style guide wants templates+contracts+formalized interfaces+bureaucracy documents

On Thursday, 8 August 2024 at 15:31:11 UTC, cc wrote:

D needs .ENUM ASAP, this is painful to look at

On Thursday, 8 August 2024 at 17:15:48 UTC, ryuukk_ wrote:

Yeah, the .enum syntax in some other languages is nice. Would be nice to have.

Nim? Has bad docs, but the templates are a bit scary. You might like it, moonkeyy.

On Thursday, 8 August 2024 at 19:13:53 UTC, Kapendev wrote:

I really hate python, and I dont know if ast macros are a replacement for templates but I'm leaning no