On Sunday, 6 June 2021 at 13:36:20 UTC, Guillaume Piolat wrote:
> It would be interesting to have other metrics, like repo created on Github/Gitlab year on year or funding of the D Foundation.

But try to look at repos with high star count for D (and other languages) on GitHub.

Most of them are not bread-and-butter (except for some web-stuff), I think?

Is that because people tend to use only Phobos, Mir and Vibe?  Anyway, it suggests that people don't focus on building libraries. So maybe people don't find the language easy enough to use for that purpose? Dunno.

It could also mean that the more language-oriented programmers have moved on to explore newer languages, and that D are appealing more to utility oriented programers.

The number of repos with more than 10 stars was lower than I would expect.

On Sunday, 6 June 2021 at 13:59:17 UTC, Ola Fosheim Grøstad wrote:
> But try to look at repos with high star count for D (and other languages) on GitHub.
>
> Most of them are not bread-and-butter (except for some web-stuff), I think?
>
> Is that because people tend to use only Phobos, Mir and Vibe?  Anyway, it suggests that people don't focus on building libraries. So maybe people don't find the language easy enough to use for that purpose? Dunno.

People don’t write libraries because it is easy, people write libraries when they need libraries. People don’t need many libraries written when linking existing C libraries is well supported.

> It could also mean that the more language-oriented programmers have moved on to explore newer languages, and that D are appealing more to utility oriented programers.

Why would language-oriented programmers produce high star count GitHub repositories? Wouldn’t you consider yourself a language-oriented programmer?

> The number of repos with more than 10 stars was lower than I would expect.

When I find a dub library that covers my needs I am happy and use it. I’m not clicking through to its repository to star it. Maybe I should.

I am more concerned with my own productivity than the popularity of the tools that I use. I know I am not the only one to think like this.

My personal advice to people complaining about progress: spend less time on these forums, spend more time coding.

— Bastiaan.

On Sunday, 6 June 2021 at 15:50:20 UTC, Bastiaan Veelo wrote:
> People don’t write libraries because it is easy, people write libraries when they need libraries. People don’t need many libraries written when linking existing C libraries is well supported.

Many people write libraries as exercises. Yes, maybe C libraries have an impact.

> Why would language-oriented programmers produce high star count GitHub repositories? Wouldn’t you consider yourself a language-oriented programmer?

Well, I just noticed there are not many D libraries that has been started in the past 5 years that have a high star count. I would assume that if people appreciate a library then they would give it a star? So, there were fewer new libs than I would expect.

> When I find a dub library that covers my needs I am happy and use it. I’m not clicking through to its repository to star it.

Yes, understand, but other languages also have package-managers.

On Sunday, 6 June 2021 at 13:36:20 UTC, Guillaume Piolat wrote:
> It would be interesting to have other metrics, like repo created on Github/Gitlab year on year

Ok, so this is not so easy since people delete repos and the github search function gives different results for each search... But let us try year by year (June to June):

2020 900
2019 1500 ∆600
2018 1900 ∆400
2017 2700 ∆800
2016 3200 ∆500
2015 4000 ∆800
2014 5200 ∆1200
2013 6400 ∆1200
2012 7700 ∆1300
2011 8300 ∆600

So if these numbers are correct the activity was cut in half around 2014. When Rust hit 1.0.

On Sunday, 6 June 2021 at 13:59:17 UTC, Ola Fosheim Grøstad wrote:
> Is that because people tend to use only Phobos, Mir and Vibe?  Anyway, it suggests that people don't focus on building libraries. So maybe people don't find the language easy enough to use for that purpose? Dunno.
>

I think D's flexibility makes it a little harder to create libraries. As soon as you start the project, you have to make some hard choices. GC or nogc, betterC? Use exceptions? Use OOP? Every choice you make will alienate some people.

On Tuesday, 8 June 2021 at 20:35:40 UTC, JN wrote:
> I think D's flexibility makes it a little harder to create libraries. As soon as you start the project, you have to make some hard choices. GC or nogc, betterC? Use exceptions? Use OOP? Every choice you make will alienate some people.

Good point. I guess betterC is the lowest common denominator.