Vision/2015H2

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This document discusses the high-level vision for D. It is revised every six months (January and July of every year). This (2015H2) instance is four months late.

Note: This document focuses on goals the D leadership will personally enable or make happen. Other contributions that don't require their help are always welcome.

Progress in H1 2015

Progress is discussed and measured in comparison with the goals established in the H1 2015 vision document.

Improve the brand

DConf 2015 held at Utah Valley University has been a success. However attendance rate (about 50) has been stagnating compared to previous years.

"This Week in D" has become a community staple.

Regional meetups have slowly moved along: London, Berlin, Silicon Valley.

• Adoption has been growing year over year, with seasonal fluctuations (summer is slower). The 28-day trailing average of daily downloads was 1081 on June 30 2015, compared to 701 exactly one year prior (54.2% increase). See chart.

• 1871 pull requests have been created in H1 2015 (1796 closed, 71 open). This falls a bit shy off the projected 2000 pull requests, but marks a 21.7% growth over H2 2014 (1538 pull requests) and a 31.8% growth year-over-year compared to H1 2014 (1419 pull requests).

• Work on the D Language Foundation has proceeded. We secured an attorney.

• Language definition has not improved significantly.

• Porting the D compiler to D has been making good progress.

• There has been progress on memory management in the standard library. Several functions that allocated memory now have lazy equivalents that do not require allocation.

However, there is a growing emphasis on stability and avoiding breakage of correct code.

H2 2015 Priorities

Because of delays in drafting this document, some items are past work (as noted) instead of intended work.

The D Language Foundation

The Foundation has been incorporated during H2 with the state of Washington, USA. The employer ID is 47-5352856. The plan is to file for non-profit status by the end of H2 (approval takes up to 6 months).

Porting the reference compiler to D

The front-end has been ported. There is work on porting the backend as well.

Continue fostering brand awareness

This remains a priority going forward. "This Week in D" has become a community staple, but we currently have no viewership statistics. DConf 2016 in Berlin is slated to be a larger event than before. Regional meetups are also important for branding: London, Berlin, Silicon Valley.