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D is a programming language developed by Walter Bright from Digital Mars ^{[1] [2]} . The first stable version was released 2007. Walter Bright designed many other compilers as the first native compiler, the Zortech C++ compiler, the Symantec C++ compiler, and the Digital Mars C++ Compiler and many C compilers (as the Datalight C compiler). D is in the Top 30 of the TIOBE index ^[3] .

Design Principles

The design principles have been to write a compiler for a language that:

• is fast without any compromise
• has a clean syntax free of the C++ quirks
• has all modern concepts of interpreted languages. In fact D has some Ruby + Python elements that make programming fun.
• is easy to learn for C and C++ programmers

Native Features

D might be a competitive choice for chess programming because:

• The performance / speed is comparable to C / C++
• It has ulong (8 bytes) and is very data-type rich

Suitable for Chess Programming

Althought it looks like D has tons of advantages over C/C++ in terms if a modern language, two problems might be woth to know

• It has been reported that D is not as good in bit fiddeling as C / C++ if you are using chess magic
• It is unknown if the garbage collector has any impact on predictable results

D has the following native features:

• Easy string handling
• Static and dynamic arrays + hashes
• Overloading, default parameters, varargs
• Nested functions (as Macros)
• Classes and inheritance and Modules/Mixins and templates
• Advanced testing features as contract programming and class invariants
• Thread and fiber support (actors in work)
• Exception handling
• Automatic or explicit garbage collection: use internal GC or free / malloc as you like.
• Closures
• Direct C access and normal debugger support
• Contract programming
• Subset of constructs for easy functional programming
• and much more...

D Engines

Dynamic list with tag 'dengine'. Engines (at least some versions) written in D:

• 1. Amoeba
  2. Dumb
  3. Shield

Publications

• Andrej Alexandrescu (2010). The D Programming Language. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 978-0321635365

Forum Posts

• digitalmars.D - gdc and the Computer Language Benchmarks Game by Guido Schimmels, digitalmars.D, June 28, 2007
• Re: c vs c++ by Brian Haskin, CCC, July 14, 2011
• programming languages - What does C++ do better than D? - Programmers - Stack Exchange

External Links

• D Homepage
• D from Wikipedia
• Wiki4D: FrontPage
• Learn D Programming
• TutorialFundamentals - tutorials - dsource.org
• Language Description
• goshawk / gdc / wiki / Home — Bitbucket

References

1. ^ The D Programming Language - Walter Bright Interview by Huw Collingbourne and Dermot Hogan, Bitwise Magazine
2. ^ The A-Z of Programming Languages: D - Walter Bright talks about D and his desire to improve on systems programming language, Computerworld
3. ^ TIOBE Software: Tiobe Index

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