First some background
---------------------

Languages to learn 2020:
https://www.edureka.co/blog/top-10-programming-languages/0
https://morioh.com/p/f39596f1028e
https://towardsdatascience.com/top-10-in-demand-programming-languages-to-learn-in-2020-4462eb7d8d3e
https://www.guru99.com/best-programming-language.html
https://www.simplilearn.com/best-programming-languages-start-learning-today-article
https://scand.com/company/blog/top-programming-languages-to-use-in-2020/
https://www.fullstackacademy.com/blog/nine-best-programming-languages-to-learn
https://hackr.io/blog/best-programming-languages-to-learn-2020-jobs-future
https://www.ignite.digital/10-best-programming-languages-to-learn-in-2020/

General:
http://pypl.github.io/PYPL.html
https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/
https://redmonk.com/sogrady/2020/07/27/language-rankings-6-20/
https://githut.info/
https://github.com/oprogramador/github-languages
https://www.cleveroad.com/blog/programming-languages-ranking

Summary
-------

D is not present anywhere in languages to learn... Why?
(I get that it can be a chicken and egg problem)

When looking for languages to learn, you have to start "somewhere".

How do we make D part of this "somewhere"?

Thanks

On Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 11:24:42 UTC, Imperatorn wrote:
>
> https://www.simplilearn.com/best-programming-languages-start-learning-today-article

Just something strange about one or two articles.

Level:
	
C – Intermediate to Advanced
C++ – Beginner to Intermediate

Shouldn't it be the other way around. C - Beginner to Intermediate, C++ - Intermediate to Advanced. In my mind C++ is a more difficult language than plain C simply because C is a simpler and smaller language. You might need to write more code and less library support out of the box but that is not the same as more difficult to learn.

On Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 11:40:46 UTC, IGotD- wrote:
> On Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 11:24:42 UTC, Imperatorn wrote:
>>
>> https://www.simplilearn.com/best-programming-languages-start-learning-today-article
>
> Just something strange about one or two articles.
>
> Level:
> 	
> C – Intermediate to Advanced
> C++ – Beginner to Intermediate
>
> Shouldn't it be the other way around. C - Beginner to Intermediate, C++ - Intermediate to Advanced. In my mind C++ is a more difficult language than plain C simply because C is a simpler and smaller language. You might need to write more code and less library support out of the box but that is not the same as more difficult to learn.

Yeah, C++ is harder to learn than C. Can that be a reason that D isn't more popular than C? It's also a bit complex/plastic? wondering.bmp 16 colors

On Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 12:34:45 UTC, Imperatorn wrote:
>
> Yeah, C++ is harder to learn than C. Can that be a reason that D isn't more popular than C? It's also a bit complex/plastic? wondering.bmp 16 colors

C is more popular because of historical reasons and that it is the lowest common denominator when it comes to system support and interoperability.

The low traction compared to the big languages is not unique for just D. There are other good languages out there that don't have the same big marketing like Nim, Zig, Julia, Crystal just to mention a few.

On Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 11:24:42 UTC, Imperatorn wrote:
> When looking for languages to learn, you have to start "somewhere".
>
> How do we make D part of this "somewhere"?

Why would someone use D? If the best you can do is come up with a list of technical features of the language, you have your answer as to why it's not on those lists. Not many people go looking for a programming language. They're looking for a solution to a problem.

If you want to increase popularity, write some libraries, turn them into a good user experience, document them well, promote them to people working in that area, and there's a small chance you'll capture some of that niche.

The programming languages space is extremely competitive. There will never be a "next C++" because there are way too many alternatives these days. Something that has come up over and over again in these discussions is making D a player for web development. That space is beyond crowded. It's better IMO to focus on incremental improvements rather than popularity.

On Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 13:32:19 UTC, bachmeier wrote:
> On Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 11:24:42 UTC, Imperatorn wrote:
>> [...]
>
> Why would someone use D? If the best you can do is come up with a list of technical features of the language, you have your answer as to why it's not on those lists. Not many people go looking for a programming language. They're looking for a solution to a problem.
>
> [...]

You're making several assumptions here. I don't really see how any of them answers the question?

On Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 14:21:04 UTC, Imperatorn wrote:
>
> You're making several assumptions here. I don't really see how any of them answers the question?

To answer your original question. In order to increase the popularity of D, it must have a palette of good libraries. Also, we need to show people how they can get from A to B with D and why it is simpler with the D language. Most people when they choose a language is because it offers the best productivity for the task, so we need to show the programmers why D is the best language for a particular task.

On Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 11:24:42 UTC, Imperatorn wrote:
> When looking for languages to learn, you have to start "somewhere".

If we are talking professional developers then you need language stability, excellent debugging experience and long term maintained bindings to key libraries/frameworks for some specific use area.

If we are talking hobby, then I don't know. Lots of tutorials, examples with visual output (graphics), maintained baseline startingpoints, lots of answers and snippets on stack overflow helps.

People new to programming should stay with languages like Python and Swift, IMO.

On Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 11:24:42 UTC, Imperatorn wrote:
> First some background
> ---------------------
>
> How do we make D part of this "somewhere"?

D - is best language.
A little time will pass, and a native gui will be born. The development environment will be born. And D will be higher than C, then Java, then higher than Python.

On Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 11:24:42 UTC, Imperatorn wrote:
> D is not present anywhere in languages to learn... Why?

Because of jobs availability.

I dont think it would be reponsible to recommend to invest time if at the end there's only 10 free sits in the train. I'll gently assume that people are influenced by these kind of articles so you could easily have 1000 new users.

It would be nicer to see D mentioned in an article that recommends a selection of languages but that rather targets people who start their own business, i.e "decision makers".