View article

Modern programming languages such as C#, Ruby and Java have much in common: they support (and some require) object-oriented programming, have large, useful libraries, manage memory via garbage collection, and to a large degree shield the programmer from low-level details. They also tend to be interpreted languages, so while they are applicable to most programming problems, they lack the efficiency of systems programming languages like C and C++. The D Programming Language is a modern hybrid of C++ and languages like Ruby: it compiles statically to native code, but is also garbage collected. It inherits the C and C++ libraries, but has its own modern library. Like C++, it is a multi-paradigm language, supporting imperative, object-oriented and functional programming styles. Its pure functional subset is suitable for teaching the functional paradigm in a survey of languages course. It also supports delegates and anonymous functions, and has a number of software engineering features built-in. This paper explores how D is suitable for courses at various levels in the CS curriculum as well as in the workplace.