This message is basically a request for Walter to make a "State of the Union Address" regarding the current path of D development.

A recent post asked a question about the stability of the current D language design. The last few releases of the compiler have consisted primarily of bug fixes (and linux interoperability) but not new language features. Can we assume that the language design, as presented in the online documentation, is essentially complete?

If not what areas of the language don't feel quiiiiiite done yet? And what areas of the language are definitely nailed down?

I also have a few corollary questions:

1) Separate and apart from language design, how well are you satisfied with the current DMD implementation of the language? What's still missing from the compiler? What are the biggest priorities?

2) What areas of the standard library are still in flux? What areas of the standard library still have the most work to be done?

3) What types of libraries would you most like to see **us** working on (that aren't destined to end up in the standard library)? Personally, I'm about 70% finished with an XML parser that I plan to contribute back to the D community. An XML parser seems like an important library, but I'm curious to know what **you** would like to see being developed.

Thanks,

--Benji

Walter,

I'm still curious about these language design/implementation questions...

--Benji


In article <bc4vn6$18s$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Benji Smith says...
>
>This message is basically a request for Walter to make a "State of the Union Address" regarding the current path of D development.
>
>A recent post asked a question about the stability of the current D language design. The last few releases of the compiler have consisted primarily of bug fixes (and linux interoperability) but not new language features. Can we assume that the language design, as presented in the online documentation, is essentially complete?
>
>If not what areas of the language don't feel quiiiiiite done yet? And what areas of the language are definitely nailed down?
>
>I also have a few corollary questions:
>
>1) Separate and apart from language design, how well are you satisfied with the current DMD implementation of the language? What's still missing from the compiler? What are the biggest priorities?
>
>2) What areas of the standard library are still in flux? What areas of the standard library still have the most work to be done?
>
>3) What types of libraries would you most like to see **us** working on (that aren't destined to end up in the standard library)? Personally, I'm about 70% finished with an XML parser that I plan to contribute back to the D community. An XML parser seems like an important library, but I'm curious to know what **you** would like to see being developed.
>
>Thanks,
>
>--Benji
>
>

I am working on an answer!

D's standard functions involving formatted input
and output are actually built upon the old C printf().
Even Pavel's streams rely on printf (but Pavel wrote
his own scanf to provide a better support of D's
strings).

I don't think that printf() should be D's standard
for formatted output printing. It isn't type safe
and, even if it is useful for debugging purposes,
it's quite a complex and slow function.

IMO, C++'s streams are the tools D needs instead.
Unfortunately Pavel's streams do not format any
output, so file.write(12) will write 12, not "12".

Since I had a lot of free time actually, I tried to
write my own stream classes. They support
(I hope) almost all of the functions of Pavel's
streams, and I provided them of a set of print()
and scan() functions which should deal with
formatted input and output.

Many of them are still incomplete or buggy.
Anyway I'm not an experienced programmer...
I'm a student and writing programs is only a
hobby for me. My streams aren't certainly
going to replace Pavel's ones, since they aren't
really much tested. I'm simply attaching them
to this post to let you read them, try them
and tell me your opinions.

(I also wrote a SocketStream... If I
remember correctly somebody was asking for
something like that. In Windows they seem to
work, but they won't in linux since I don't even
know the function prototypes...)

Hello again. I'm just checking back again to see about the status of the State-of-the-Union address from Walter.

It's been a few weeks, and I thought it might be good to be a little bit of a pest. So, no pressure or anything...

--Benji Smith

In article <bcdi78$1q8n$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Walter says...
>
>I am working on an answer!
>
>

In article <bcdg5u$1ofq$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Benji smith says...
>
>Walter,
>
>I'm still curious about these language design/implementation questions...
>
>--Benji
>
>
>In article <bc4vn6$18s$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Benji Smith says...
>>
>>This message is basically a request for Walter to make a "State of the Union Address" regarding the current path of D development.
>>
>>A recent post asked a question about the stability of the current D language design. The last few releases of the compiler have consisted primarily of bug fixes (and linux interoperability) but not new language features. Can we assume that the language design, as presented in the online documentation, is essentially complete?
>>
>>If not what areas of the language don't feel quiiiiiite done yet? And what areas of the language are definitely nailed down?
>>
>>I also have a few corollary questions:
>>
>>1) Separate and apart from language design, how well are you satisfied with the current DMD implementation of the language? What's still missing from the compiler? What are the biggest priorities?
>>
>>2) What areas of the standard library are still in flux? What areas of the standard library still have the most work to be done?
>>
>>3) What types of libraries would you most like to see **us** working on (that aren't destined to end up in the standard library)? Personally, I'm about 70% finished with an XML parser that I plan to contribute back to the D community. An XML parser seems like an important library, but I'm curious to know what **you** would like to see being developed.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>--Benji
>>
>>
>
>

This would be good.

Pestilentially ...

Matthew

"Benji Smith" <Benji_member@pathlink.com> wrote in message news:bc4vn6$18s$1@digitaldaemon.com...
> This message is basically a request for Walter to make a "State of the
Union
> Address" regarding the current path of D development.
>
> A recent post asked a question about the stability of the current D
language
> design. The last few releases of the compiler have consisted primarily of
bug
> fixes (and linux interoperability) but not new language features. Can we
assume
> that the language design, as presented in the online documentation, is essentially complete?
>
> If not what areas of the language don't feel quiiiiiite done yet? And what
areas
> of the language are definitely nailed down?
>
> I also have a few corollary questions:
>
> 1) Separate and apart from language design, how well are you satisfied
with the
> current DMD implementation of the language? What's still missing from the compiler? What are the biggest priorities?
>
> 2) What areas of the standard library are still in flux? What areas of the standard library still have the most work to be done?
>
> 3) What types of libraries would you most like to see **us** working on
(that
> aren't destined to end up in the standard library)? Personally, I'm about
70%
> finished with an XML parser that I plan to contribute back to the D
community.
> An XML parser seems like an important library, but I'm curious to know
what
> **you** would like to see being developed.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --Benji
>
>