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digitalmars.D.announce - This Week in D #15: hackathon, mem management, ARM, tip for C coders

reply "Adam D. Ruppe" <destructionator gmail.com> writes:
I covered two weeks this time, as I missed last week.

http://arsdnet.net/this-week-in-d/may-03.html

The tip this week might be a bit controversial but I actually 
feel kinda strongly about this. So many times, I see people 
asking questions about how to do task X in D.

I think that's the wrong question: you should just be asking how 
to do task X. The programming language isn't terribly important: 
if you can do it in C, you can do it in D basically the same way; 
D provides similar language features to other common languages 
like C and Java, so a LOT of knowledge carries over from them... 
as long as you aren't afraid to use it.

I think that when people are new to D, we ought to press this 
carry-over point. They don't have to forget everything and 
suddenly do everything the D way, using only Phobos, doing it all 
with lazy ranges, etc. It doesn't have to be all that new, 
unfamiliar territory at once.

Similarly, I get a bit bothered when I see a lot of work done to 
add a bit of common functionality to a C library. Now, don't get 
me wrong, I reinvent the wheel as much as the next guy (actually, 
I don't even like the term "reinventing the wheel" exactly 
because so much knowledge carries over. Just because I'm 
re-coding it doesn't mean I'm reinventing it. By carrying over 
knowledge of the problem domain from any source, it makes coding 
it again a lot easier - I already know what needs to be done and 
where the pitfalls are, unlike a truly novel invention, where all 
that is a mystery going into it. But I digress).

I almost never use third party libraries personally for a variety 
of reasons, so I get the desire to rewrite things, especially 
when D offers so many ways to do it better than ever before.

But at the same time, I'm  also a working programmer accustomed 
to things like last-minute client requests, deadlines, and other 
schedule constraints (including just simply not *wanting* to 
spend that kind of time on a problem, believe it or not, I don't 
actually care for programming all day every day....)


In these cases, being able to say "yes we can, and I can do it 
today, though it might look like C" is so much more valuable than 
saying "maybe... if I figure out how to make it idiomatic D"



So I guess it is more a peeve of mine than anything else, but I 
wanted to talk about it anyway and used the tip of the week as my 
vehicle. D code that looks like C isn't a bad thing, indeed, I 
think it is a selling point.
May 03 2015
next sibling parent reply Rikki Cattermole <alphaglosined gmail.com> writes:
On 4/05/2015 3:23 p.m., Adam D. Ruppe wrote:

 I covered two weeks this time, as I missed last week.

 http://arsdnet.net/this-week-in-d/may-03.html

 The tip this week might be a bit controversial but I actually feel kinda
 strongly about this. So many times, I see people asking questions about
 how to do task X in D.

 I think that's the wrong question: you should just be asking how to do
 task X. The programming language isn't terribly important: if you can do
 it in C, you can do it in D basically the same way; D provides similar
 language features to other common languages like C and Java, so a LOT of
 knowledge carries over from them... as long as you aren't afraid to use it.

 I think that when people are new to D, we ought to press this carry-over
 point. They don't have to forget everything and suddenly do everything
 the D way, using only Phobos, doing it all with lazy ranges, etc. It
 doesn't have to be all that new, unfamiliar territory at once.

 Similarly, I get a bit bothered when I see a lot of work done to add a
 bit of common functionality to a C library. Now, don't get me wrong, I
 reinvent the wheel as much as the next guy (actually, I don't even like
 the term "reinventing the wheel" exactly because so much knowledge
 carries over. Just because I'm re-coding it doesn't mean I'm reinventing
 it. By carrying over knowledge of the problem domain from any source, it
 makes coding it again a lot easier - I already know what needs to be
 done and where the pitfalls are, unlike a truly novel invention, where
 all that is a mystery going into it. But I digress).

 I almost never use third party libraries personally for a variety of
 reasons, so I get the desire to rewrite things, especially when D offers
 so many ways to do it better than ever before.

 But at the same time, I'm  also a working programmer accustomed to
 things like last-minute client requests, deadlines, and other schedule
 constraints (including just simply not *wanting* to spend that kind of
 time on a problem, believe it or not, I don't actually care for
 programming all day every day....)


 In these cases, being able to say "yes we can, and I can do it today,
 though it might look like C" is so much more valuable than saying
 "maybe... if I figure out how to make it idiomatic D"



 So I guess it is more a peeve of mine than anything else, but I wanted
 to talk about it anyway and used the tip of the week as my vehicle. D
 code that looks like C isn't a bad thing, indeed, I think it is a
 selling point.


A pet peeve from the community section might be a great idea!
May 03 2015
parent reply "Adam D. Ruppe" <destructionator gmail.com> writes:
On Monday, 4 May 2015 at 03:50:57 UTC, Rikki Cattermole wrote:

 A pet peeve from the community section might be a great idea!


If you ever want to rant, type it up and email it to me, I'll 
work it in!

BTW I also have a window open on my browser somewhere to chat 
with you about audio stuff. Been pretty busy lately but want you 
to know that I haven't forgotten!
May 04 2015
parent Rikki Cattermole <alphaglosined gmail.com> writes:
On 5/05/2015 7:01 a.m., Adam D. Ruppe wrote:

 On Monday, 4 May 2015 at 03:50:57 UTC, Rikki Cattermole wrote:

 A pet peeve from the community section might be a great idea!


 If you ever want to rant, type it up and email it to me, I'll work it in!

 BTW I also have a window open on my browser somewhere to chat with you
 about audio stuff. Been pretty busy lately but want you to know that I
 haven't forgotten!


Awesome sweet!
May 04 2015
prev sibling next sibling parent ketmar <ketmar ketmar.no-ip.org> writes:
On Mon, 04 May 2015 03:23:07 +0000, Adam D. Ruppe wrote:


 So I guess it is more a peeve of mine than anything else, but I wanted
 to talk about it anyway and used the tip of the week as my vehicle. D
 code that looks like C isn't a bad thing, indeed, I think it is a
 selling point.


i found that i can write code "in C style" first, and then gradually=20
converting it to be more "D-like". btw, it's a great way to start using D=20
for begginers with C expirience: just do it as you are used to, and then=20
change some parts as you learned new trick.

it's very useful when converting C libraries to D. i have some libraries=20
that is hard/impractical to rewrite from scratch in D, but i want 'em in=20
D to ease hacking and improving. so i'm first converting code using D as=20
"better C", and then adding better interfaces or rewriting some parts.=
May 03 2015
prev sibling next sibling parent reply "Gary Willoughby" <dev nomad.so> writes:
On Monday, 4 May 2015 at 03:23:08 UTC, Adam D. Ruppe wrote:

 I covered two weeks this time, as I missed last week.



 A switch was added to git to start profiling the GC itself, as 
 part of a general push toward better memory management in D.


That should read: A switch was added to *DMD*
May 04 2015
parent "Adam D. Ruppe" <destructionator gmail.com> writes:
On Monday, 4 May 2015 at 09:01:31 UTC, Gary Willoughby wrote:

 That should read: A switch was added to *DMD*


ah right, I made it "to dmd git"; what I meant was the git 
version but it can always be clearer.
May 04 2015
prev sibling next sibling parent Nick Sabalausky <SeeWebsiteToContactMe semitwist.com> writes:
On 05/03/2015 11:23 PM, Adam D. Ruppe wrote:

 I covered two weeks this time, as I missed last week.

 http://arsdnet.net/this-week-in-d/may-03.html

 The tip this week might be a bit controversial but I actually feel kinda
 strongly about this. So many times, I see people asking questions about
 how to do task X in D.


Actually, I came over to this forum thread just now specifically to say 
that I liked that tip quite a lot. It's a very good (and well-written) 
point that perhaps doesn't always get communicated as well as it should.
May 04 2015
prev sibling parent Andrei Alexandrescu <SeeWebsiteForEmail erdani.org> writes:
On 5/3/15 8:23 PM, Adam D. Ruppe wrote:

 I covered two weeks this time, as I missed last week.

 http://arsdnet.net/this-week-in-d/may-03.html


http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/34uji5/d_hackathon_roundup_and_tip_of_the_week_dont_be/

https://twitter.com/D_Programming/status/595287061990506497

https://www.facebook.com/dlang.org/posts/1062292857117728


Andrei
May 04 2015