# D programming language 83 Hacker News commenters recommended D programming language and 41 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 20 years (4 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Recommended for fast, well-designed compile-time features and easy C interop, though critics say its ecosystem feels unstable and lacks direction. ## Why people recommend it - Strong compile-time metaprogramming and reflection (5 comments): "For one in D it's the same language and one can choose whether to execute compile time constant parts at compile time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46987128)) "Languages such as D and Nim (both greatly underappreciated) offer full-language compile-time interpretation." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45854357)) "D has compile time reflection, and compile time metaprogramming is much easier to use than Rust macros" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46986050)) - Consistent, well-designed syntax and type system (4 comments): "It's a very consistent language even if you compared to the other popular languages namely Python, Rust, C++ and Go." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48105602)) "It has a type system that catches most category errors, without having to think too much about types" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49082794)) "I like how easy it is to switch between low-level and high-level code, and it has some neat features for modeling data." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50137712)) - Easy C interop and porting (4 comments): "After using a mixed D/C program for a while, I bet you'll feel motivated to take the extra step and translate the C stuff to D" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46747486)) "it's almost a no-brainer to port C/C++ code to D because it mostly builds on the same semantics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46986079)) "In D, you just import the C headers directly without depending on the bindings' maintainers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46987143)) - Garbage collector plus systems control (3 comments): "D language pioneered this combination both GC (by default) and non-GC more seamlessly, even before Stanza." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48399616)) "the GC combined with the full power of a systems language are the killer features that made me stick to D" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46987346)) "In D you can have the high performance tool capable of bit shifting, string processing, array manipulation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47513361)) ## What people warn about - Unstable, confusing ecosystem (3 comments): "the whole ecosystem was just too confusing and simply didn't look stable and reliable enough to build upon long-term" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46986645)) "D to me is one language I love fundamentally, but the ecosystem is nowhere near where it could be." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48855593)) "There's just too many problems with this language and how it's packaged and offered to the end user" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46986540)) - No clear direction, too many features (5 comments): "lack of direction (it is always trying the next big thing that might atract users, leaving others behind not fully done)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46853707)) "D is mostly a collection of many ideas, many of them are good, but they don't coalesce into a simple design philosophy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49775375)) "D has become a complicated kitchen-sink language where each concept seems to be implemented in three different ways" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48744092)) - Weak IDE and tooling support (2 comments): "With all your tools you're never going to reach the same level of interactive productivity with D" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47513521)) "templates don't play well with proper IDE support because it's hard to reason about the code" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49080596)) - Lost years and delayed releases (2 comments): "D has lost 16 years counting from Andrei's book publishing date, letting other programing languages catch up to more relevant features." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47001234)) "was for several releases delayed due to personal issues, which is understandable in a small team, however it is a problem." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47000169)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Rust](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rust.md): 2039 recommend - [Go](https://hackerapproved.com/p/go-programming-language.md): 1254 recommend - [Python](https://hackerapproved.com/p/python.md): 1067 recommend - [Zig](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zig.md): 743 recommend - [TypeScript](https://hackerapproved.com/p/typescript.md): 574 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "D programming language", https://hackerapproved.com/p/d-programming-language/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).