How do I (a newbie to D) figure out which compiler set to use?
I am running Ubuntu 14.10, and intend to stick with it in the long term.
Should I choose DMD or go with GDC?
I would like to know the rationale for suggestions for either.

Thanks.

On 19/02/2015 9:46 p.m., Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
> How do I (a newbie to D) figure out which compiler set to use?
> I am running Ubuntu 14.10, and intend to stick with it in the long term.
> Should I choose DMD or go with GDC?
> I would like to know the rationale for suggestions for either.
>
> Thanks.

Atleast while learning stick with dmd.
It is the reference compiler. There are far more developers involved in its production then GDC.

And anyway, GDC is still hasn't been updated to the latest version of D. And its the last major D compiler that hasn't.

There is a D-apt repository, which will interest you.
http://d-apt.sourceforge.net/

Mayuresh Kathe:

> Should I choose DMD or go with GDC?

It's a good idea to use all available compilers. LDC and DMD are both useful. Every one of them has advantages and disadvantages.

Bye,
bearophile

On Thursday, 19 February 2015 at 08:46:11 UTC, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
> How do I (a newbie to D) figure out which compiler set to use?
> I am running Ubuntu 14.10, and intend to stick with it in the long term.
> Should I choose DMD or go with GDC?
> I would like to know the rationale for suggestions for either.
>
> Thanks.

GDC:

+ generates faster code
+ supports many of low-level GCC flags for code generation tuning
+ more platforms (ARM, MIPS)
- slow compilation
- updates to latest language version with considerable delay

DMD:
+ very fast edit/compile cycle
+ reference compiler
- ancient code generation backend
- not many ways to affect generated code (outside of -O -inline)

It is common to use DMD for development and GDC for building actual release binaries.

On Thursday, 19 February 2015 at 09:10:16 UTC, Rikki Cattermole wrote:
> On 19/02/2015 9:46 p.m., Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
>> How do I (a newbie to D) figure out which compiler set to use?
>> I am running Ubuntu 14.10, and intend to stick with it in the long term.
>> Should I choose DMD or go with GDC?
>> I would like to know the rationale for suggestions for either.
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> Atleast while learning stick with dmd.
> It is the reference compiler. There are far more developers involved in its production then GDC.
>
> And anyway, GDC is still hasn't been updated to the latest version of D. And its the last major D compiler that hasn't.
>
> There is a D-apt repository, which will interest you.
> http://d-apt.sourceforge.net/

I thank you for your response, and thank you for that link.

I installed the "dmd_2.066.1-0_amd64.deb" from the dlang.org website, though. :)
Figured it best to stick with the official DMD as I am working through "The D Programming Language".

On 20/02/2015 12:10 a.m., Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
> On Thursday, 19 February 2015 at 09:10:16 UTC, Rikki Cattermole wrote:
>> On 19/02/2015 9:46 p.m., Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
>>> How do I (a newbie to D) figure out which compiler set to use?
>>> I am running Ubuntu 14.10, and intend to stick with it in the long term.
>>> Should I choose DMD or go with GDC?
>>> I would like to know the rationale for suggestions for either.
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>
>> Atleast while learning stick with dmd.
>> It is the reference compiler. There are far more developers involved
>> in its production then GDC.
>>
>> And anyway, GDC is still hasn't been updated to the latest version of
>> D. And its the last major D compiler that hasn't.
>>
>> There is a D-apt repository, which will interest you.
>> http://d-apt.sourceforge.net/
>
> I thank you for your response, and thank you for that link.
>
> I installed the "dmd_2.066.1-0_amd64.deb" from the dlang.org website,
> though. :)
> Figured it best to stick with the official DMD as I am working through
> "The D Programming Language".

In that case, you probably also want to read the errata for TDPL.
http://erdani.com/index.php?cID=109
For changes since that book was written.

On Thu, 19 Feb 2015 22:10:11 +1300, Rikki Cattermole wrote:

> And anyway, GDC is still hasn't been updated to the latest version of D. And its the last major D compiler that hasn't.

LDC is 2.067 already? O_O 'cause GDC is 2.066.1 now.

On 20/02/2015 5:08 a.m., ketmar wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Feb 2015 22:10:11 +1300, Rikki Cattermole wrote:
>
>> And anyway, GDC is still hasn't been updated to the latest version of D.
>> And its the last major D compiler that hasn't.
>
> LDC is 2.067 already? O_O 'cause GDC is 2.066.1 now.

Well according to GDC releases, it is still at 2.065.
https://github.com/D-Programming-GDC/GDC/releases
I was referring to full releases, not e.g. betas.

On Fri, 20 Feb 2015 13:29:09 +1300, Rikki Cattermole wrote:

> On 20/02/2015 5:08 a.m., ketmar wrote:
>> On Thu, 19 Feb 2015 22:10:11 +1300, Rikki Cattermole wrote:
>>
>>> And anyway, GDC is still hasn't been updated to the latest version of
>>> D.
>>> And its the last major D compiler that hasn't.
>>
>> LDC is 2.067 already? O_O 'cause GDC is 2.066.1 now.
> 
> Well according to GDC releases, it is still at 2.065. https://github.com/D-Programming-GDC/GDC/releases I was referring to full releases, not e.g. betas.

what is that "full release"? those tarballs are just convient packs for those who don't know what to type after "git" command. 2.066.1 is officially landed in git HEAD some time ago, Iain just didn't wrote "whatsnew" for it (and Johannes wanted to land some ARM fixes). it's not "beta", at least not on x86. but is that release blah-blah really necessary to build the 2.066.1 version from official git?

On Fri, 20 Feb 2015 02:08:19 +0000, ketmar wrote:

> On Fri, 20 Feb 2015 13:29:09 +1300, Rikki Cattermole wrote:
> 
>> On 20/02/2015 5:08 a.m., ketmar wrote:
>>> On Thu, 19 Feb 2015 22:10:11 +1300, Rikki Cattermole wrote:
>>>
>>>> And anyway, GDC is still hasn't been updated to the latest version of
>>>> D.
>>>> And its the last major D compiler that hasn't.
>>>
>>> LDC is 2.067 already? O_O 'cause GDC is 2.066.1 now.
>> 
>> Well according to GDC releases, it is still at 2.065. https://github.com/D-Programming-GDC/GDC/releases I was referring to full releases, not e.g. betas.
> 
> what is that "full release"? those tarballs are just convient packs for those who don't know what to type after "git" command. 2.066.1 is officially landed in git HEAD some time ago, Iain just didn't wrote "whatsnew" for it (and Johannes wanted to land some ARM fixes). it's not "beta", at least not on x86. but is that release blah-blah really necessary to build the 2.066.1 version from official git?

oh. sorry if i was too aggressive, i didn't want to attack you. at least not in D.learn. ;-)