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| Subject | Newbie to D initial suggestion |
| From | Edward Diener <eddielee_no_spam_here@tropicsoft.com> |
| Date | Sun, 27 Jan 2008 11:05:24 -0500 |
| Newsgroups | digitalmars.D |
I am an experienced C++ programmer who became interested in D only after the recent discussion on comp.lang.c++ between Walter Bright and various C++ experts regarding undefined or implementation defined areas of C++. I realized during reading that discussion that while I would not stop programming in C++ I was sympathetic to many of Mr. Bright's points regarding C++. I have a basic initial suggestion, as I am persuing the D pdf dcument I downloaded in order to understand of what the language consisted. The basic suggestion regards documentation for D itself. I believe the most important thing for getting others to be interested in a new programming language is the unglamorous chore of presenting the documentation for that language to others. While the pdf documentation I am reading is adequately thorough, I have a few suggestions: 1) A link to the downloaded documentation for D should be almost the first thing a viewer should see when they click on the D portion of the Digital Mars web site. It should be front and center. I realize there is a separate Language link on the left hand side which takes me to an online set of pages which explain D and I realize that somewhere down on the initial page there is a line which reads "This document is available as a pdf" with a link on that final word, but I think this is still too indirect. The normal reaction to any new language is to download the documentation detailing that language so that it can be read and/or printed at the end-user's leisure. 2) Since D is highly related to C++ there should be a document for C++ programmers detailing the differences between D and C++, which again is downloadable almost immediately from the main web page of D. I did not find any such document although there is occasional mention of these diferences in the pdf document I downloaded. 3) There is evidently a version 2.0 and above of D. Perhaps it is not meant for anybody to become interested in this version who is just attempting to learn what D is about, but the complete lack of any documentation which I could find about this version and/or its difference from the 1.0 version is not a good thing. The pdf document I am reading is a good technical document but I would rather, as an experienced C++ programmer, have read a downloadable document detailing the differences between D and C++ than having to wade through each section of the pdf document attempting to see what they are. I realize that writing documentation is the chore which nearly every programmer hates but when one is creating a new computer language it is almost an absolute necessity if one wants to get others to try what one has created. So I hope the mild suggestions mentioned here will help the D community in their efforts to tell other interested programmers, especially C++ programmers, why they might consider using D. Now I will continue to read on about D at my leisure, and see if I am interested in pursuing my initial interest in it. If I have any general suggestions about the language I hope they will be taken in the spirit of things intended to improve things rather than as an antagonism to the ideas presented there. | |
Newbie to D initial suggestion (Current message)
