The difference being with Python you gained in prototyping speed but were losing (at least at the time) on execution speed, whereas in D you get rapid prototyping while keeping very high efficiency.
Good point. But that is partly due to the design of Python, it being a highly dynamic language. I don't want to get into any flame wars, but I'd hazard a guess that Python is somewhat more dynamic in nature than D (I know some D, and Python well), and that at the least, some of the things one can do in Python, would require a lot more knowledge and skill (with D) and acrobatics or contortions (speaking loosely) to do in D. (It would be good to be proven wrong on this, though :) This is not a criticism of D, I really like the language, and am aware of its power. Check out these two posts about D by Dmitry Popov (lead developer and Director), on the Infognition blog:
In fact, here are some posts I've written that show how to write some kinds of basic apps for various purposes in D, that I posted about on HN just recently:
http://www.infognition.com/blog/2014/why_d.html
http://www.infognition.com/blog/2014/d_as_scripting_language...
(2nd post not loading for me right now)
In fact, here are some posts I've written that show how to write some kinds of basic apps for various purposes in D, that I posted about on HN just recently:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18609543