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digitalmars.D.learn - New in D

reply Jakepys <perdomojuan187 gmail.com> writes:
While researching programming languages, I tried Zig, Rust, C++, 
and Go, but none of them seemed fun. Then, at a conference, I 
suddenly discovered D; I hadn't heard of it before, and now I 
find it beautiful and very entertaining to learn. I'm coming from 
C and I'd like to know what I can do with it, especially 
regarding memory management and garbage collection, although I 
don't think it's enabled by default. Thanks.
Jul 14
next sibling parent Mindy (0xEAB) <desisma heidel.beer> writes:
On Wednesday, 15 July 2026 at 01:54:28 UTC, Jakepys wrote:

 although I don't think it's enabled by default.


The GC is semi-opt-out.
It only ever collects memory when you ask it to allocate memory 
for you or you call its `collect()` function.

It also features a `disable()` function, that bumps the internal 
counter and prevents collections from occurring. The counterpart 
is `enable()` which counterbumps the counter. The counter allows 
you to focus on your code without worrying about re-enabling the 
collection mechanism early.

You can also register your own memory segments with the GC, so 
that the GC can scan those for pointers into GC-allocated memory.

Here's the corresponding library documentation:
<https://dlang.org/library/core/memory/gc.html>

As you might be able to tell, the GC is part of Druntime. If you 
choose to opt out of using the runtime (e.g. by passing 
`-betterC` to the compiler), you'll not have it available.

Further information on the GC's inner workings can be found here:
<https://dlang.org/library/core/memory.html>

Last but not least, if you don't mind the slop “cartoon” graphic 
and messed up document layout, you might find the text of this 
spec page interesting: <https://dlang.org/spec/garbage.html>
Jul 14
prev sibling next sibling parent Mike Parker <aldacron gmail.com> writes:
On Wednesday, 15 July 2026 at 01:54:28 UTC, Jakepys wrote:

 While researching programming languages, I tried Zig, Rust, 
 C++, and Go, but none of them seemed fun. Then, at a 
 conference, I suddenly discovered D; I hadn't heard of it 
 before, and now I find it beautiful and very entertaining to 
 learn. I'm coming from C and I'd like to know what I can do 
 with it, especially regarding memory management and garbage 
 collection, although I don't think it's enabled by default. 
 Thanks.


I suggest you watch this DConf talk by Lewis Nicolle about the 3D 
engine and game he developed in D and see what he had to say 
about memory management and garbage collection:

https://youtu.be/P6M_psWzo60

The whole talk is a great example of what you can do with D.
Jul 14
prev sibling next sibling parent FinalEvilution <FinalEvilution gmail.com> writes:
On Wednesday, 15 July 2026 at 01:54:28 UTC, Jakepys wrote:

 While researching programming languages, I tried Zig, Rust, 
 C++, and Go, but none of them seemed fun. Then, at a 
 conference, I suddenly discovered D; I hadn't heard of it 
 before, and now I find it beautiful and very entertaining to 
 learn. I'm coming from C and I'd like to know what I can do 
 with it, especially regarding memory management and garbage 
 collection, although I don't think it's enabled by default. 
 Thanks.


Welcome!

This isn't related to memory management, but seeing as you're 
coming from C
you may find D's [ImportC](https://dlang.org/spec/importc.html) 
very interesting if you don't already know about it.
It allows for easy usage of C's library's in D. I'm using it for 
accessing the turbojpeg and dbus library's myself.

For example here's my jpeg.c file.

```C
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

#include "jpeglib.h"
```

And on the D side i just import it like so `import jpeg;`
Compile it with. `dmd main.d -L-ljpeg` No function declarations 
in it or the #include's so it doesn't even need to be added to 
the build command, just linked.
(I'm on linux building by hand with Make. If you're using DUB add 
[libs](https://dub.pm/dub-reference/build_settings/#libs) to the 
build file.)
And just like that i can access all the jpeg functions without 
any third-party wrappers.
It's pretty great.
Jul 15
prev sibling parent =?UTF-8?Q?Ali_=C3=87ehreli?= <acehreli yahoo.com> writes:
On 7/14/26 6:54 PM, Jakepys wrote:

 none of them seemed fun.


It took me a while to discover about myself that not feature lists but 
soft qualities like its community make programming languages (and other 
things) attractive.


 Then, at a conference, I suddenly
 discovered D;


What was the context? Was it mentioned during a presentation or by an 
attendee?

Ali
Jul 15