The D programming language (of interest here; there 
actually have been several distinct significant D languages
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D_programming_language_%28disambiguation%29]
during the history of programming)  is a new language designed as an evolution of [C]/[C++]. The language specification is currently at http://www.digitalmars.com/d/index.html
Also of potential interest are the Wikipedia
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D_%28programming_language%29]
and Wiki4D
[http://www.prowiki.org/wiki4d/wiki.cgi?FrontPage]
pages.

To see how D compares to other languages, check out http://www.digitalmars.com/d/comparison.html .

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We can call [Tcl] from D fairly simply. In fact, it looks a ''lot'' like C++ in most places. The main issue is to generate an import symbol file for the Tcl API (which can be done by using the genStubs script file).

Under [Microsoft Windows] I had to convert the standard [ActiveTcl] tcl83.lib to an OMF format library.
To do this we convert to COFF format using Microsoft's LINK program and then Digital Mars' COFF2OMF utility
  link /lib /convert tcl83.lib
  coff2omd tcl83.lib

To illustrate, here is an initial stab. Build this using
 dmd simple.d tcl83.lib  (Using Windows)
or
 dmd simple.d -L-ltcl    (Using UNIX)

----

 // simple.d - Copyright (C) 2003 Pat Thoyts <patthoyts@users.sf.net>
 //
 // Demonstrate linking to Tcl from the D programming language. 
 // See http://www.digitalmars.com/d/index.html for information
 // about ``D''
 //
 // $Id: 6261,v 1.25 2006-10-11 06:00:07 jcw Exp $
 
 import c.stdio;
 import stream;
 import compiler;

 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Define the bits we need for interfacing to Tcl API
 //
 extern (C) {
     alias void* ClientData;
     alias void (*Tcl_FreeProc)(char* blockPtr);
     alias void (*Tcl_CmdDeleteProc)(ClientData clientData);
     alias int (*Tcl_CmdProc)(ClientData clientData, Tcl_Interp * interp,
                              int argc, char* argv[]);
     alias void* Tcl_Command;
 
     struct Tcl_Interp {
         char* result;
         Tcl_FreeProc blockPtr;
         int errorLine;
     }
 
     enum {
         TCL_OK = 0,
         TCL_ERROR = 1,
         TCL_RETURN = 2,
         TCL_BREAK = 3,
         TCL_CONTINUE = 4,
     }
 
     enum : Tcl_FreeProc {
         TCL_VOLATILE = (Tcl_FreeProc)1,
         TCL_STATIC = (Tcl_FreeProc)0,
         TCL_DYNAMIC = (Tcl_FreeProc)3,
     }
 
     export {
        Tcl_Interp* Tcl_CreateInterp();
        Tcl_Command Tcl_CreateCommand(Tcl_Interp * interp, char * cmdName,
                                      Tcl_CmdProc proc,
                                      ClientData clientData,
                                      Tcl_CmdDeleteProc deleteProc);
        int Tcl_Eval(Tcl_Interp * interp, char * string);
        int Tcl_EvalFile(Tcl_Interp * interp, char * fileName);
        char * Tcl_GetStringResult(Tcl_Interp* interp);
        void Tcl_SetResult(Tcl_Interp * interp, char * str,
                           Tcl_FreeProc freeProc);
        
     }
 }
  
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 int main(char[][] args)
 {
     Tcl_Interp* interp;
     interp = Tcl_CreateInterp();
 
     Tcl_CreateCommand(interp, "ddemo", &DDemoCmd,
                       (ClientData)null, (Tcl_CmdDeleteProc)null);
 
     int r;
     if (args.length < 2)
     {
         r = Tcl_Eval(interp, "puts "Tcl version: [info tcl]"; ddemo");
     }
     else
     {
         int r = Tcl_EvalFile(interp, args[1]);
     }
     printf(Tcl_GetStringResult(interp));
     return r;
 }
 
 // Add a new command to the Tcl interpreter.
 // In this case: return some information about the D compiler.
 extern (C):
 int 
 DDemoCmd(ClientData clientData, Tcl_Interp *interp, int argc, char* argv[])
 {
     MemoryStream stm = new MemoryStream;
     stm.printf(compiler.name);
     stm.printf(" %d.%d", compiler.version_major, compiler.version_minor);
     Tcl_SetResult(interp, stm.toString(), TCL_STATIC);
     return TCL_OK;
 }
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 //
 // Local variables:
 //   mode: c
 //   compile-command: "dmd simple.d tcl83.lib"
 // End:

----

[RLH] That seems like a good language. I wonder why it isn't used more?

[MSW] From a quick glance at it, probably because there's no open source compiler and thus the thing only runs on a very limited set of (OS x CPU/arch). There's http://www.opend.org and it seems dead for soon half a decade...

[RLH] Is this integration with GCC what you are talking about it not having [http://home.earthlink.net/~dvdfrdmn/d/]? But the limited OS support is probably a reason.

[MSW] Ok, haven't seen that one. Still being a kind of "simple" successor to C, it should run in  more places. Kind of like same reason why people don't use Cyclone([http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~greg/cyclone/]) etc I guess...

----
As of October 2006, D is on the verge of being a [language with a Tk binding]
[http://lists.puremagic.com/pipermail/digitalmars-d/2006-October/008776.html].

[RLH] That isn't how I read that thread.

[LWV] After reading through the thread a bit, I see
http://www.algonet.se/~afb/d/TK.zip is a beginning of a binding between
D and Tk. Some of the issues are people wanting a D GUI that is
designed with D philosophies, and later in the thread, concern about
the fact that Tk requires X11 headers in some cases. I do not get the feeling
that the D community itself is embracing Tk. Instead, there appears to be a 
number of people thinking about the possibility, with a larger number looking
at alternatives.


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[[
[Category Language]
]]