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I wonder if that could actually be hindering its adoption. I think the 'kitchen sink' C++ style is not so popular anymore.

• Tozen 4y ago
  When it comes to language popularity, we have to keep in mind that D is way more popular than so-called up and coming languages (where it's oddly ignored they came out many years ago) such as Zig, Nim, Crystal, etc... Dlang often floats around the top #30 in the TIOBE rankings. It really is a very tough hill to climb to crack the top 10 among languages. Relatively speaking, D has done well for itself, and arguably is in the position to climb further up and possibly be in the top 20 of language rankings. Have seen a lot of talk and theories about why D didn't or hasn't become more popular. Some of them have to do with circumstances, not just about the number of features. For instance, Dlang's DMD reference compiler was under license restrictions by Symantec, which wasn't changed until 2017 (now it's under the commercial friendly Boost license). A lot of companies and corporate sponsors get leery about licensing issues. There were also early squabbles about API design, like Tango versus Phobos, which are mostly resolved these days. But, years ago, it was less clear about the direction or how it would get sorted out. D, as a contender to climb even higher up the language ranking charts, is still a strong possibility. D might even remain and always be more popular than Zig will ever be (especially if it wants to fight and die on the more syntactically complex "better C" hill), despite this view on D adding so much. Which could even be more of a selling point (kitchen sink included), than an hindrance, and particularity as an already established and developed older language.
  • dunefox 4y ago
    If D is in the top 30 of languages according to these rankings that just shows how flawed they are.