JD-Salinger

ive been browsing the internet,searching the forums and read some of their discussions... the D language has the potential... I've visited the website and it seems that D programming language has really lots of promising features to stand on its own. what can you say about this... here's the link of the D Language. ive brought this up since i want to learn a couple of programming languages and the only language i know is c/c++. can you give me some of your insights?

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Jimbo

I've seen various threads on various discussing the merits of D, but I've never bothered to read any of them. I've also seen various threads on various forums discussing the merits of LISP. Haven't heard a whole lot about either one at work (though that might be due to environmental factors...).

That said, if you're trying to pick a language as a vector to prepare for having a job in the field, I'd pick one that's commonly used. You might also consider learning a language which is substantially different (paradigm-wise) from what you're familiar with.

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grumpy

There will always be new programming languages and claims those new languages will replace older languages because they are more powerful, easier to use, less error prone, more portable, faster, easier to learn, backward compatible but otherwise better, better support contracts, support garbage collection (or not), better support testing, make documentation easier, or will help some major or minor deity will be resurrected.

The reality is that new programming languages will be adopted by programmers for good reasons (eg they work better for some tasks) and bad reasons (eg pressure by marketing departments) while programmers will also stick to older languages for good reasons and bad reasons.

In philosophy D is more like Java than C++ (in that it seeks to take C++ and add some "good" features while removing some "bad" ones). The only real difference is in the lists of "good" features added and "bad" features removed.

Do I think D will replace C++? No, I do not. No more than Java has replaced C++, or C++ has replaced C. Simply because there is no "best" language that kills off all predecessors.

Also, the fact that other languages seem based on a philosophy of adding/removing from C or C++, suggests that C and C++ are really examples of languages that will exist and evolve for a long time. Just as there are other languages based on adding/removing features from Pascal, so Pascal will probably exist and evolve for a long time.

JD-Salinger

So I think java would be the choice... do you think java is much easier to learn? ive programmed c++ and i was not that good but i know the basics, im on the part of discovering and applying the libraries in c++. Do you think that java would be a good start?

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grumpy

Depending on why you are learning.

As a language for beginners (who need to pick up some understanding of how computers work, and how to do things systematically) Java is not a language I would recommend. Pascal, old as it is, is my favourite for that.

If you know a bit of programming, and want to have a resume that will impress simple-minded recruiters or follow the number of job adverts, then Java is for you .... as long as you don't think ahead more than five years or so. Nobody can predict what language will be the flavour of the month in five years from now. I consider it likely that scripting languages and related techniques will become more popular in coming years but, since trends with programming are based on collective emotion (i.e. following the herd) more than reasoning, I won't bet large sums on money on that.

JD-Salinger

pyThon? Ruby? Groovy? i think ill stick to python... ive heard lots of good feedbacks in python

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nigel

Once you have a language used for a long time, it's hard to get rid of. This is because so many programs are written in that language and you have to maintain them, and it would be a bitch to re-write them. So I agree with grumpy in that it won't replace C++ anymore than C++ replaced C.

Grich

Oh come on, everyone knows Machine Code is the only way to code.
Just joking. At college, some people do code in D for a hobby or comparing languages. It's okay, I haven't used it myself though.
Some people do see C++ as out of date for one reason: It dose not have built in multi threading support. You can of course hard code this feature (good luck). For C++ to survive the future, I believe it must have multi threading features.

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grumpy

One of the topics of discussion by the C++ standard committee is options for multithreading. It is actually a fairly challenging problem, given the need to be able to do it portably and still work on machines that don't support multithreading. I haven't followed the various proposals in a little while but, in practice, I would anticipate the support would be a mix of language features (eg making access control mechanisms that work with multiple threads) and library features (eg creating and controlling threads, synchronization mechanisms, etc).

Grich

Have a look at this guys.

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