D

Scott McKay said "C++ is history repeated as tragedy. Java is history repeated as farce." Some truth to that, I guess, but instead of going Dylan I finally tried out a bit of D. D has for many years seemed to me an excellent substitute for C++, but unfortunately the tools hasn't caught on.

But really, look at this spec:

• Compiles 33x faster than C++! I first thought the compiler had booged out, until I noticed my binary, already compiled and ready to run.
• Links towards native C libraries, Windows DLL's are there for the taking.
• The garbage collector and array bounds checking can be turned off for native performance. Inline ASM is portably supported in a real nice way.
• While we're talking performance, it has built-in support for vector operations: c[] = a[] + b[];
• ... and yet another performance factor, namely compile time function execution. D converts the following into a const: factorial(12)*sin(0)*180/3.14;
• I experimented a little bit with concurrency, and it was beautiful.
• Furthermore you'll find design by contract, dynamic arrays, array slicing, closures, lambda function, lazy evaluation and then some.

Microsoft has been lagging behind for a long time in terms of cutting-edge. They hold 3% of the smart phone market share, and considering what technology they're packing in Windows Phone they won't stand a chance according to me. They use .NET through Silverlight, but have no support for native C++ code, which of course Android and iOS have. Oh, right, and Silverlight is sunsetting. Did they let Balmer do all the thinking himself?

But I say: if they could just let the .NET-pimple erupt and replace it with D and C++, they'd be in a sweet spot as they still pWn the computer market. Sure, they'd loose some years of developing point-and-click programming, but who that actually matters cares? .NET-wankers. Microsoft would be back at native code, which would double, no triple performance on all applications, including their precious. It takes an awful lot of time to start Outlook on my corporate laptop, and the problem does not lie in the 5•10¹¹ CPU cycles used. NASA went to the moon and back 43 years ago with a lot less.

If they'd keep it stable like the Ark on Arrarat (instead of rocking like a goldola next to the the cataract), the whole Java mumbo-jumbo would be out of business, with competition that is twice as fast and still retains the same level of control.

If they also fire the firestartah while they're at it, they just might come out on top. Bing Himself isn't up for it. If they don't stop the .NET farce now, it's bound to be a tragedy soon. Plus it's the only way I foresee anyone bringing D to the masses.