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digitalmars.D.learn - What learning resources are available?

reply "Mark Isaacson" <turck11 hotmail.com> writes:
Hi everyone - I'm a D newbie with a very strong C++ background 
looking to get started. I've read "The D Programming Language" a 
couple of times now, but I've heard rumblings at several points 
in time from several people that some if its contents are now out 
of date or no longer reflect best practices.

What would be the best way to bridge the learning gap between 
TDPL's publication and now?

What other resources would be most useful in establishing a 
working knowledge of idiomatic D?

What's the best way to stay informed about such changes in the 
future? (Is there a mailing list, or should I just be reading dmd 
changelogs?)

Thanks in advance!
Feb 18 2014
next sibling parent "simendsjo" <simendsjo gmail.com> writes:
On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 at 19:17:55 UTC, Mark Isaacson wrote:

 Hi everyone - I'm a D newbie with a very strong C++ background 
 looking to get started. I've read "The D Programming Language" 
 a couple of times now, but I've heard rumblings at several 
 points in time from several people that some if its contents 
 are now out of date or no longer reflect best practices.

 What would be the best way to bridge the learning gap between 
 TDPL's publication and now?

 What other resources would be most useful in establishing a 
 working knowledge of idiomatic D?

 What's the best way to stay informed about such changes in the 
 future? (Is there a mailing list, or should I just be reading 
 dmd changelogs?)

 Thanks in advance!


I can just speak for myself, but I've been learning D by 
following the newsgroups and reading the phobos and druntime 
code. Not sure if there are quicker ways to get up to date.
Feb 18 2014
prev sibling next sibling parent "H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh quickfur.ath.cx> writes:
On Tue, Feb 18, 2014 at 07:17:53PM +0000, Mark Isaacson wrote:

 Hi everyone - I'm a D newbie with a very strong C++ background
 looking to get started. I've read "The D Programming Language" a
 couple of times now, but I've heard rumblings at several points in
 time from several people that some if its contents are now out of
 date or no longer reflect best practices.


I would say that most of TDPL is still applicable today. The parts that
are out-of-date are mostly confined to the more advanced features. There
has been some new syntax added since, but they have mostly been
syntactic sugar, not fundamental changes, so you should notice very few
discrepancies there.

Another great resource is Ali Cehreli's introductory book to D:

	http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/

It takes a different approach from TDPL, and is more recent, so you may
find it helpful.



 What would be the best way to bridge the learning gap between TDPL's
 publication and now?


Honestly, there's not that much of a gap. I'd wager at least 80% (if not
more) of TDPL is still relevant today.



 What other resources would be most useful in establishing a working
 knowledge of idiomatic D?


Read Phobos source code, perhaps? :)  I'm quite serious, actually.
Phobos source code is actually very readable as far as standard
libraries go (compared to, say, glibc, which is not only an eyesore but
will give you a headache for weeks). I've found it a pleasure to read,
for the most part.  (There are some dark corners in Phobos code, but you
don't have to go there to pick up the latest D practices!)



 What's the best way to stay informed about such changes in the
 future? (Is there a mailing list, or should I just be reading dmd
 changelogs?)


[...]

This forum should keep you pretty up-to-date. ;-)


T

-- 
One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring them
all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond where the
shadows lie. -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
Feb 18 2014
prev sibling next sibling parent "John Colvin" <john.loughran.colvin gmail.com> writes:
On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 at 19:17:55 UTC, Mark Isaacson wrote:

 Hi everyone - I'm a D newbie with a very strong C++ background 
 looking to get started. I've read "The D Programming Language" 
 a couple of times now, but I've heard rumblings at several 
 points in time from several people that some if its contents 
 are now out of date or no longer reflect best practices.

 What would be the best way to bridge the learning gap between 
 TDPL's publication and now?

 What other resources would be most useful in establishing a 
 working knowledge of idiomatic D?

 What's the best way to stay informed about such changes in the 
 future? (Is there a mailing list, or should I just be reading 
 dmd changelogs?)

 Thanks in advance!


Combining other posts with my opinion of each item:

A combination of:

TDPL: overview of the language with justifications, should be 
very well targeted for an experienced C++ programmer

http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/ for a few more up to date details and 
good basic introductions to anything you get confused by.

Phobos code: Judicious use of the power of D. Not all good, but 
if you look at the more frequently updated modules you should get 
a nice picture.

http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Category:D for lots of D solutions to 
common problems etc. Mostly by bearophile (I think?), stretching 
the limits of terse range-based D code.
Feb 18 2014
prev sibling parent "Tobias Pankrath" <tobias pankrath.net> writes:
On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 at 19:17:55 UTC, Mark Isaacson wrote:

 Hi everyone - I'm a D newbie with a very strong C++ background 
 looking to get started. I've read "The D Programming Language" 
 a couple of times now, but I've heard rumblings at several 
 points in time from several people that some if its contents 
 are now out of date or no longer reflect best practices.

 What would be the best way to bridge the learning gap between 
 TDPL's publication and now?

 What other resources would be most useful in establishing a 
 working knowledge of idiomatic D?

 What's the best way to stay informed about such changes in the 
 future? (Is there a mailing list, or should I just be reading 
 dmd changelogs?)

 Thanks in advance!


This one is quite cool: 
https://github.com/PhilippeSigaud/D-templates-tutorial
Feb 18 2014