ALgo, Java, Python, Ruby, C# and Effiel. What are some other languages?

On Saturday, 3 September 2022 at 03:32:35 UTC, Jack wrote:

The top influences are of course C++ and C. Walter Bright intended D1 as an improvement over C++, whose quirks and faults he became very familiar with while working on his commercial C++ compiler.

C is also explicitly a major influence, given that much of D's basic semantics and syntax were chosen with the goal that C code should be easily translatable into D by non-experts, with the obvious translation either having compatible semantics, or failing at compile time. D's ABI compatiblity through extern(C), use of the C runtime library, and -betterC mode are further evidence that C is the dominant influence, along side C++.

On Saturday, 3 September 2022 at 16:19:26 UTC, tsbockman wrote:

I see it differently. There are more knowledgeable people here for sure but my understanding is that Walter, having written a C++ compiler (and BTW at some point a Java compiler) saw how C++ could be both simplified and also made more powerful (better templating etc.). Now, C++ supported C as part of the C++ philosophy, presumably to help ease adoption of C++, interoperating with the kernel (libc etc), and to leverage all those pre-existing C libraries. Walter also stuck with the idea to try to maintain compatibility with C, for much the same reasons. Hence I say that D was primarily influenced by C++, and only indirectly by C. Putting it into other words, if C++ had not supported C, then D would also not have done so.

-betterC came relatively recently as a quick and easy win to get converts from the C community (amongst other reasons). It doesn't necessarily indicate that D was directly influenced by C or its philosophy.

When I read TDPL I did gain a sense that Python had also somewhat influenced the design, but maybe that was my imagination. I'm thinking of imports and the 'turtles all the way down' philosophy.