D: About

D: About

D (or Dlang) is a general purpose, object-oriented, system programming language created by Walter Bright of Digital Mars and released in 2001.

Bright graduated from Caltech in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, was the main developer of the first C++ compiler to translate source code directly to object code without using C as an intermediate, developer of the Datalight C compiler, the game Empire, one of the first strategy computer games, and Facebook's write warp (a fast C/C++ preprocessor) written D.

Though it originated as a re-engineering of C++, D is a distinct language, having redesigned some core C++ features while also sharing characteristics from other languages, notably Java, Python, Ruby, C#, and Eiffel. Among the goals of D were:

  • Combine the performance and safety of compiled languages with the expressive power of modern dynamic languages.
  • Enable writing fast, effective code in a straightforward manner.
  • Make doing things the right way easier than the wrong way.
  • Be compatible with the local C application binary interface.
  • Be able to build lightweight, standalone programs.
  • Cater to the needs of numerical analysis programmers.

Notable organizations that use the D programming language for projects include Facebook, eBay, and Netflix. D has also been used for games, an operating system kernel, GPU programming, web development, and numerical analysis.