View source for Vision/2017H1

== Meta ==

This document discusses the high-level vision for D with semestrial granularity. It is released in January and July.

Note: This document focuses on goals the D leadership will personally enable or make happen, or strongly believes are important for the success of the D language. Other contributions are always welcome and do not need to be necessarily aligned with this document.

== H2 2016 Review ==

;The D Language Foundation

:Since 2016 we are a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501(c)_organization 501(c)] public charity organization.

:Since November the Foundation has granted 4 [https://dlang.org/dlangupb-scholarship.html scholarships] to MSc students at University "Politehnica" Bucharest.

:The Foundation has a positive balance sheet from DConf 2016 and a number of speaking and training engagements. We have two years of autonomy with the current balance and expense structure.

;Organization

:Martin Nowak has improved the release model and integration of fixes.

;Raising participation

:Sebastian Wilzbach, Martin Nowak, and Vladimir Panteleev have improved automation in the process of creating, reviewing, and integrating contributions.

:Scholarship recipients started contributing to the codebase

:Contributions on github have declined compared to last year, as shown in this table:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Pull Requests Created
|-
|[https://github.com/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+user%3Adlang+created%3A2011-01-01..2011-12-31 2011]
| 1134
|-
|[https://github.com/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+user%3Adlang+created%3A2012-01-01..2012-12-31 2012]
| 1846
|-
|[https://github.com/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+user%3Adlang+created%3A2013-01-01..2013-12-31 2013]
| 2891
|-
|[https://github.com/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+user%3Adlang+created%3A2014-01-01..2014-12-31 2014]
| 2954
|-
|[https://github.com/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+user%3Adlang+created%3A2015-01-01..2015-12-31 2015]
| 3246
|-
|[https://github.com/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+user%3Adlang+created%3A2016-01-01..2016-12-31 2016]
| 3074
|-
|}


;Safety and Memory Management

:We merged [https://github.com/dlang/DIPs/blob/master/DIPs/DIP1000.md DIP1000] as an opt-in feature

:[https://github.com/dlang/phobos/pull/4878 PR4878] is the first safe reference counted buffer of bytes. It is not general enough because it does not offer reference to its elements.

:Walter Bright has fixed many bugs that allow unsafe behavior in <tt>@safe</tt> code.

== H1 2017 Priorities ==

=== Technical ===

We have decided to focus on three overarching goals in the first six months of 2017:

1. '''<tt>@safe</tt>ty:''' we aim to enable large-scale uses of D with safety guarantees.

2. '''<tt>@nogc</tt>:''' Use of D without a garbage collector, most likely by using reference counting and related methods Unique/Weak references) for reclamation of resources. This task is made challenging by the safety requirement.

3. '''Static introspection:''' We believe this is an important strategic advantage of D and we should continue to improve both compiler support and library support.

All other goals are secondary or adjunct to the above. Such include:

* Infrastructure:
** Rework CI infrastructure
** Overhaul dub registry
* Compiler (including paying technical debt and supporting collaboration on compiler work):
** Redoing compiler code into lowerings and <tt>__traits</tt>-based introspection that leverage client code, thus moving compiler smarts into simpler library facilities
** Templatize dmd <-> druntime API
** Better support for C-style libraries with light or no runtime
** Better information hiding and encapsulation in dmd
** Refactoring of overloads in dmd
* Performance and Scalability:
** Improved support for vector instructions in the front- and back-end
** New CTFE engine 1.0 (w/o classes & exceptions)
** Address compile time/resource issues (compilation model, template instantiation & template instance emission)
* Library:
** High-level shared library wrapper

=== Non-Technical ===

* Organize DConf 2017
* Get scholarship recipients working on high-impact research projects
* Continue enhancing the Foundation's financials, which will allow it to:
** Expand scholarship program
** Hire consultants
** Possibly hire statutory employees
** Fund more projects
** Help organizing more events and conferences
* Improve process (release, DIPs, deprecations/enhancements)
* Improve operational efficiency
* Improve publications profile and presence in social media