Ah, the age old question. I can guarantee, though, the answer is no. It took me maybe a couple weeks to convert the entire front end from C++ to D. Contrast that with the Warp preprocessor I wrote for Facebook, which took many months, and I knew what I was doing. And that is just the preprocessor!
Basically, writing a C++ front end takes 10 man years. I know of no effort that took less time, and this is assuming the best in the business doing the writing.
> Was the "D as a better C" approach inspired by your want to transition DMC to D?
Partially, yes. And certainly doing the transition work has improved betterC. Nothing like proving it works than translating a crotchety old horrifyingly complex piece of code written in 1980's style.
I plan on doing this to all my old projects that are still in use.
> Basically, writing a C++ front end takes 10 man years.
This is insane. No language needs to be that complex. I guess that's the power of backward compatibility: forcing an entire industry to dig itself into an ever growing hole, because in the short term we move faster by digging than by first clawing our way out.
Yes, it's been oddly satisfying.
> May it have been better to start from scratch?
Ah, the age old question. I can guarantee, though, the answer is no. It took me maybe a couple weeks to convert the entire front end from C++ to D. Contrast that with the Warp preprocessor I wrote for Facebook, which took many months, and I knew what I was doing. And that is just the preprocessor!
Basically, writing a C++ front end takes 10 man years. I know of no effort that took less time, and this is assuming the best in the business doing the writing.
> Was the "D as a better C" approach inspired by your want to transition DMC to D?
Partially, yes. And certainly doing the transition work has improved betterC. Nothing like proving it works than translating a crotchety old horrifyingly complex piece of code written in 1980's style.
I plan on doing this to all my old projects that are still in use.