[Scons-dev] [OT] D Licencing [was Python 3 compatability... RFH (request for help)]

[Russel Winder]

On Fri, 2017-04-07 at 13:00 -0400, Bill Deegan wrote:
> off topic but interesting..
> https://forum.dlang.org/post/oc8acc$1ei9$1@digitalmars.com
> 
> I'll take a look at the tool detection logic.
> My dmd is in /opt/local/bin (macports install)
> 
This is both trivial and meaningless, but also huge and crucial.

DMD is the reference compiler and where all input to the front end goes
in. However the licence to the back end meant distributions such as
Debian and Fedora could not package it. This created huge negative
marketing even though LDC and GDC are packagable. Debian has both,
Fedora only LDC. LDC is the compiler for all production system
generation, but DMD is so much faster at compilation. And there are
things like RDMD which enables D programs to be scripts replacing Bash
and Python.

<opinion>
D is a much nicer replacement for C++ than Rust, which is really a
replacement for OCaml now. C++17 is far better than C++11, but it is a
2019 language, D is a 2015 one. A number of finance folk are finding D
superior to Python for computation, but there is a long story here
involving Chapel. The release of the DMD backend into a FOSS licence by
Symantec is a trivial thing, but it is also a huge thing, as long as
Walter and Andrei handle the marketing.

I can foresee a bigger move to D from C++ and Python not for technical
reasons, but simply that there is no no encumbrance to the language nor
its implementations.
</opinion>

-- 
Russel.
=============================================================================
Dr Russel Winder      t: +44 20 7585 2200   voip: sip:russel.winder at ekiga.net
41 Buckmaster Road    m: +44 7770 465 077   xmpp: russel at winder.org.uk
London SW11 1EN, UK   w: www.russel.org.uk  skype: russel_winder
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