While I have been a programmer for close to 23 years, it's been mostly API level code cobbling work.

Would like to learn "D", but am a bit intimidated by the fact that I don't have much of a grasp over the foundational stuff (discrete mathematics, machine organization, etc.) and hence am preparing for the same.

Would like to know if there be anything else I should work through before approaching "D" via Mr. Alexandrescu's book.

Thanks.

On Tue, Dec 02, 2014 at 04:38:33PM +0000, Mayuresh Kathe via Digitalmars-d-learn wrote:
> While I have been a programmer for close to 23 years, it's been mostly API level code cobbling work.
> 
> Would like to learn "D", but am a bit intimidated by the fact that I don't have much of a grasp over the foundational stuff (discrete mathematics, machine organization, etc.) and hence am preparing for the same.
> 
> Would like to know if there be anything else I should work through before approaching "D" via Mr. Alexandrescu's book.
[...]

Ali Cehreli's D book is another excellent resource:

	http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/intro.html


--T

On Tuesday, 2 December 2014 at 16:38:34 UTC, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
> While I have been a programmer for close to 23 years, it's been mostly API level code cobbling work.
>
> Would like to learn "D", but am a bit intimidated by the fact that I don't have much of a grasp over the foundational stuff (discrete mathematics, machine organization, etc.) and hence am preparing for the same.
>
> Would like to know if there be anything else I should work through before approaching "D" via Mr. Alexandrescu's book.
>
> Thanks.

If you have been programming for 23 years there is absolutely no reason why you should struggle with D due to your lack of discrete math, machine organization knowledge, etc.  You certainly shouldn't have any trouble following Andrei's book, which is very easy to follow, although having some discrete math is helpful in keeping up with some of his forum posts :o)

Welcome to the D world!

On Tuesday, 2 December 2014 at 16:54:50 UTC, CraigDillabaugh wrote:
> On Tuesday, 2 December 2014 at 16:38:34 UTC, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
>> While I have been a programmer for close to 23 years, it's been mostly API level code cobbling work.
>>
>> Would like to learn "D", but am a bit intimidated by the fact that I don't have much of a grasp over the foundational stuff (discrete mathematics, machine organization, etc.) and hence am preparing for the same.
>>
>> Would like to know if there be anything else I should work through before approaching "D" via Mr. Alexandrescu's book.
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> If you have been programming for 23 years there is absolutely no reason why you should struggle with D due to your lack of discrete math, machine organization knowledge, etc.  You certainly shouldn't have any trouble following Andrei's book, which is very easy to follow, although having some discrete math is helpful in keeping up with some of his forum posts :o)
>
> Welcome to the D world!

Thanks for the welcome. :)

I think I'll just work through Discrete Mathematics and Machine Organization before approaching Mr. Alexandrescu's book, would take up only 6 ~ 8 months of my time, and would be really good for me in the long term.

> Thanks for the welcome. :)
>
> I think I'll just work through Discrete Mathematics and Machine Organization before approaching Mr. Alexandrescu's book, would take up only 6 ~ 8 months of my time, and would be really good for me in the long term.

No! If you know how to program and want to learn D, start reading Andrei's book now. Any discrete math class is only a distraction. Read up on discrete math in parallel or if the need arises.

On Tuesday, 2 December 2014 at 17:10:57 UTC, Tobias Pankrath wrote:
>> Thanks for the welcome. :)
>>
>> I think I'll just work through Discrete Mathematics and Machine Organization before approaching Mr. Alexandrescu's book, would take up only 6 ~ 8 months of my time, and would be really good for me in the long term.
>
> No! If you know how to program and want to learn D, start reading Andrei's book now. Any discrete math class is only a distraction. Read up on discrete math in parallel or if the need arises.

Okay, if that is the case, I'll dive into Mr. Alexandrescu's book as soon as I get my copy.

BTW, how come all of you address him as Andrei?
Is this group that informal?
Asking, just so that I don't become the odd man. :)

On Tuesday, 2 December 2014 at 17:04:57 UTC, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
> On Tuesday, 2 December 2014 at 16:54:50 UTC, CraigDillabaugh wrote:
>> On Tuesday, 2 December 2014 at 16:38:34 UTC, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
clip
>
> Thanks for the welcome. :)
>
> I think I'll just work through Discrete Mathematics and Machine Organization before approaching Mr. Alexandrescu's book, would take up only 6 ~ 8 months of my time, and would be really good for me in the long term.

I certainly wouldn't discourage from studying Discrete Mathematics
or Machine Organization, as they are very helpful, but they
are by no means per-requisites for Andrei's book - or D for that
matter.

Anyway, whatever course you decide to follow - have fun. S

On Tuesday, 2 December 2014 at 17:15:28 UTC, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
> BTW, how come all of you address him as Andrei?
> Is this group that informal?
> Asking, just so that I don't become the odd man. :)

This group is definitely that informal. First names are the norm here.

On Tuesday, 2 December 2014 at 17:15:28 UTC, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
> Okay, if that is the case, I'll dive into Mr. Alexandrescu's book as soon as I get my copy.

No need to wait that long. I second H.S. Teoh's suggestion to recommend reading this book too:

http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/intro.html

It's free, downloadable and right up to date.

On Tuesday, 2 December 2014 at 17:33:18 UTC, Gary Willoughby wrote:
> On Tuesday, 2 December 2014 at 17:15:28 UTC, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
>> Okay, if that is the case, I'll dive into Mr. Alexandrescu's book as soon as I get my copy.
>
> No need to wait that long. I second H.S. Teoh's suggestion to recommend reading this book too:
>
> http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/intro.html
>
> It's free, downloadable and right up to date.

Yes, prima-facie it definitely looks good.
Will start off with it while I await delivery of Andrei's book to my location.