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digitalmars.D.learn - books for learning D

reply mark <mark qtrac.eu> writes:
I'm just starting out learning D.

Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 years 
old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how much D has 
changed in 10 years.)
Jan 13 2020
next sibling parent reply Ferhat =?UTF-8?B?S3VydHVsbXXFnw==?= <aferust gmail.com> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.

 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 years 
 old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how much D has 
 changed in 10 years.)


Depending on your background:

https://wiki.dlang.org/First_Language
https://wiki.dlang.org/Coming_From
Jan 13 2020
parent reply Ferhat =?UTF-8?B?S3VydHVsbXXFnw==?= <aferust gmail.com> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:08:45 UTC, Ferhat KurtulmuÅŸ 
wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.

 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 years 
 old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how much D 
 has changed in 10 years.)


 Depending on your background:

 https://wiki.dlang.org/First_Language
 https://wiki.dlang.org/Coming_From


Even if you are not new to programming this book would be a good 
start:
http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/index.html
Jan 13 2020
parent reply mark <mark qtrac.eu> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:13:32 UTC, Ferhat KurtulmuÅŸ 
wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:08:45 UTC, Ferhat KurtulmuÅŸ 
 wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.

 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 
 years old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how 
 much D has changed in 10 years.)


 Depending on your background:

 https://wiki.dlang.org/First_Language
 https://wiki.dlang.org/Coming_From


 Even if you are not new to programming this book would be a 
 good start:
 http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/index.html


Thanks for the links.

I should have said that I find it a *lot* easier learning from a 
print book than online which is why I asked about the 
Alexandrescu book.

Has D changed enough in 10 years to outdate that book? I know 
most other languages have but I'm completely new to D.
Jan 13 2020
next sibling parent bachmeier <no spam.net> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:20:31 UTC, mark wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:13:32 UTC, Ferhat KurtulmuÅŸ 
 wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:08:45 UTC, Ferhat KurtulmuÅŸ 
 wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.

 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 
 years old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how 
 much D has changed in 10 years.)


 Depending on your background:

 https://wiki.dlang.org/First_Language
 https://wiki.dlang.org/Coming_From


 Even if you are not new to programming this book would be a 
 good start:
 http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/index.html


 Thanks for the links.

 I should have said that I find it a *lot* easier learning from 
 a print book than online which is why I asked about the 
 Alexandrescu book.

 Has D changed enough in 10 years to outdate that book? I know 
 most other languages have but I'm completely new to D.


Ali's book
http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/index.html
is D's "official tutorial". You can buy a print copy. If you have 
experience with other languages, Mike Parker's Learning D is also 
an excellent choice. There's nothing wrong with Andrei's book for 
a beginner, but I would personally recommend those two over 
Andrei's for someone new to D.
Jan 13 2020
prev sibling parent reply bachmeier <no spam.net> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:20:31 UTC, mark wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:13:32 UTC, Ferhat KurtulmuÅŸ 
 wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:08:45 UTC, Ferhat KurtulmuÅŸ 
 wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.

 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 
 years old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how 
 much D has changed in 10 years.)


 Depending on your background:

 https://wiki.dlang.org/First_Language
 https://wiki.dlang.org/Coming_From


 Even if you are not new to programming this book would be a 
 good start:
 http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/index.html


 Thanks for the links.

 I should have said that I find it a *lot* easier learning from 
 a print book than online which is why I asked about the 
 Alexandrescu book.

 Has D changed enough in 10 years to outdate that book? I know 
 most other languages have but I'm completely new to D.


I'll also throw out that the books by Andrei, Mike Parker, and 
Adam Ruppe are available on O'Reilly's Safari if you have access. 
You could see which you like best and order that one.
Jan 13 2020
parent reply mark <mark qtrac.eu> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:35:51 UTC, bachmeier wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:20:31 UTC, mark wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:13:32 UTC, Ferhat KurtulmuÅŸ 
 wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:08:45 UTC, Ferhat KurtulmuÅŸ 
 wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.

 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 
 years old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how 
 much D has changed in 10 years.)


 Depending on your background:

 https://wiki.dlang.org/First_Language
 https://wiki.dlang.org/Coming_From


 Even if you are not new to programming this book would be a 
 good start:
 http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/index.html


 Thanks for the links.

 I should have said that I find it a *lot* easier learning from 
 a print book than online which is why I asked about the 
 Alexandrescu book.

 Has D changed enough in 10 years to outdate that book? I know 
 most other languages have but I'm completely new to D.


 I'll also throw out that the books by Andrei, Mike Parker, and 
 Adam Ruppe are available on O'Reilly's Safari if you have 
 access. You could see which you like best and order that one.


Both those books are published by Packt who normally have no 
quality control at all as I've discovered to my cost. However 
they do seem to have people with good D credentials as 
reviewers/foreword writers, so I guess I'll try Parker's after 
I've tried the "official" one.
Thanks.
Jan 13 2020
next sibling parent Mike Parker <aldacron gmail.com> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:58:51 UTC, mark wrote:


 Both those books are published by Packt who normally have no 
 quality control at all as I've discovered to my cost. However


It's hit and miss in my experience. I've picked up some utter 
crap from them, but I've also found some real gems. There's no 
real vetting of the authors they sign, so the writing quality and 
knowledge level vary. Assuming those are up to snuff, much 
depends on feedback from the technical reviewers and the author's 
ability to evaluate the editor's revisions.

Packt's editors follow a rote process where certain words and 
phrases are *always* replaced from a set of alternatives and 
certain phrases are *always* inserted in certain circumstances 
(e.g., to introduce a code snippet) without any regard for the 
surrounding context. Fortunately, they give the author a chance 
to review the edits before publication. In my case, they were 
willing to accept my revision of the revisions (the ones I 
caught, anyway). Sadly, I never had a chance to do the same with 
the two chapters they published online.

I can attest that Adam's and Kai's books are worth the buy. I own 
and have enjoyed both. If either of them were to do a 2nd 
edition, I'd pick it up!
Jan 13 2020
prev sibling parent Adam D. Ruppe <destructionator gmail.com> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 11:58:51 UTC, mark wrote:

 Both those books are published by Packt who normally have no 
 quality control at all as I've discovered to my cost.


I found working with Packt to be difficult on a lot of levels 
too. Like chapter 1 of my book had various symbols mangled 
through the review process... and that made it to print. (I 
realized the problem through the chapter 2 process at least and 
fixed most of it there, but once chapter 1 was submitted there 
was no chance to go back and fix it.)

So like there's stuff like

import foo;;;

with 3 ; actually in there. Ugh. But at least those are easy to 
fix if you already know basic D syntax and doesn't affect the 
explanatory text, which (I think anyway) mostly turned quite good.

I also have downloads of the intended code samples on my website:

http://arsdnet.net/dcode/book/

so you can look there too (and copy/paste more easily!).

also spying the code samples there will give you some idea of 
what the text is about before buying as well.

I recently did an unofficial second edition of the socket sample 
on my blog too so that's a freebie lol 
http://dpldocs.info/this-week-in-d/Blog.Posted_2019_11_11.html#sockets-tutorial
Jan 13 2020
prev sibling next sibling parent IGotD- <nise nise.com> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.

 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 years 
 old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how much D has 
 changed in 10 years.)


Andrei Alexandrescu's is still a good read for those who wants to 
learn D coming from other languages. What I like about the book 
is that he also could explain the reasoning behind different 
design choices. Some of it might be out of date but not that much 
and it is still useful.
Jan 13 2020
prev sibling next sibling parent reply =?UTF-8?Q?Ali_=c3=87ehreli?= <acehreli yahoo.com> writes:
On 1/13/20 2:28 AM, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.
 
 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 years old, so 
 is it still worth getting? (I don't know how much D has changed in 10 
 years.)
 


Yes, Andrei's book is dated but it offers a great perspective on D and 
programming languages in general.

Unfortunately, my book is lagging behind as well. For example, I still 
have to replace post-blit with copy constructors.

I recommend Mike's book as well and Adam's book is a great complement to 
all the tutorials. Kai's book is great too but it is on vibe.d and I 
don't know how much vibe.d has changed since the book was written.

Ali
Jan 13 2020
parent "H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh quickfur.ath.cx> writes:
On Mon, Jan 13, 2020 at 04:23:19AM -0800, Ali Çehreli via Digitalmars-d-learn
wrote:

 On 1/13/20 2:28 AM, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.
 
 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 years old,
 so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how much D has changed
 in 10 years.)




[...]

I think it's still worth it.  The basics of the language haven't changed
that much.  Plus, for your reference, here's Andrei errata that updates
the book in a few places:

	https://erdani.com/tdpl/errata/


T

-- 
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about
Exchange Server next. -- (Stolen from the net)
Jan 13 2020
prev sibling next sibling parent reply =?UTF-8?B?UmVuw6k=?= Heldmaier <rene.heldmaier gmail.com> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.

 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 years 
 old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how much D has 
 changed in 10 years.)


I found the book amazing. It not only explains the language, but 
also how things work behind the scenes. For a book on programming 
languages it's written in an entertaining style. It's also a joy 
to see how beautiful the design of D is, compared to languages 


But...

The book is definitely not written for beginners. You should at 
least have a good understanding of C (Especially the concept of 
pointers). Even though the chapter on pointers is only 2 pages 
long, the word "pointer" occurs 155 times in the book (I made a 
quick search over my ebook version).
Jan 13 2020
parent mark <mark qtrac.eu> writes:
Thanks for all the comments. Look's like I'll be buying Mike's 
"Learning D"!
Jan 13 2020
prev sibling next sibling parent reply Ron Tarrant <rontarrant gmail.com> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.

 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 years 
 old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how much D has 
 changed in 10 years.)


Actually, Andrei's book has been updated a few times over the 
years since first being published. The latest version says this 
on the copyright page:

D version: 2.081.1
Book revision: 2018-10-17

So, it's really only about 14 months old.
Jan 13 2020
next sibling parent reply mark <mark qtrac.eu> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 16:37:31 UTC, Ron Tarrant wrote:

 Actually, Andrei's book has been updated a few times over the 
 years since first being published. The latest version says this 
 on the copyright page:

 D version: 2.081.1
 Book revision: 2018-10-17

 So, it's really only about 14 months old.


Is that an ebook edition? The "look inside" of the physical book 
shows "First Printing, May 2010".
Jan 13 2020
parent mark <mark qtrac.eu> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 16:45:46 UTC, mark wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 16:37:31 UTC, Ron Tarrant wrote:

 Actually, Andrei's book has been updated a few times over the 
 years since first being published. The latest version says 
 this on the copyright page:

 D version: 2.081.1
 Book revision: 2018-10-17

 So, it's really only about 14 months old.


 Is that an ebook edition? The "look inside" of the physical 
 book shows "First Printing, May 2010".


(Oh, you can't post-edit like in discourse.)

Anyway, I'll start with Mike's and if I get on with D I'll 
probably get all three.
Jan 13 2020
prev sibling parent reply Jan =?UTF-8?B?SMO2bmln?= <hrominium gmail.com> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 16:37:31 UTC, Ron Tarrant wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.

 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 years 
 old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how much D 
 has changed in 10 years.)


 Actually, Andrei's book has been updated a few times over the 
 years since first being published. The latest version says this 
 on the copyright page:

 D version: 2.081.1
 Book revision: 2018-10-17

 So, it's really only about 14 months old.


I am also curious. Where can i find the revised book.
Jan 29 2020
next sibling parent Ron Tarrant <rontarrant gmail.com> writes:
On Wednesday, 29 January 2020 at 11:57:14 UTC, Jan Hönig wrote:


 I am also curious. Where can i find the revised book.


Sorry for the delay, guys. I thought I'd posted the link earlier. 
Here it is:

http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/index.html
Jan 31 2020
prev sibling parent reply mark <mark qtrac.eu> writes:
On Wednesday, 29 January 2020 at 11:57:14 UTC, Jan Hönig wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 16:37:31 UTC, Ron Tarrant wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.

 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 
 years old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how 
 much D has changed in 10 years.)


 Actually, Andrei's book has been updated a few times over the 
 years since first being published. The latest version says 
 this on the copyright page:

 D version: 2.081.1
 Book revision: 2018-10-17

 So, it's really only about 14 months old.


 I am also curious. Where can i find the revised book.


I'd also like to know where the revised "The D Programming 
Language" by  Andrei Alexandrescu is: and whether it can be 
bought in physical form?
Jan 31 2020
parent Jan =?UTF-8?B?SMO2bmln?= <hrominium gmail.com> writes:
On Friday, 31 January 2020 at 10:51:07 UTC, mark wrote:

 On Wednesday, 29 January 2020 at 11:57:14 UTC, Jan Hönig wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 16:37:31 UTC, Ron Tarrant wrote:

 On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 [...]


 Actually, Andrei's book has been updated a few times over the 
 years since first being published. The latest version says 
 this on the copyright page:

 D version: 2.081.1
 Book revision: 2018-10-17

 So, it's really only about 14 months old.


 I am also curious. Where can i find the revised book.


 I'd also like to know where the revised "The D Programming 
 Language" by  Andrei Alexandrescu is: and whether it can be 
 bought in physical form?


I think Ron confused Ali's book and Andrei's book.
Jan 31 2020
prev sibling next sibling parent Pavel Shkadzko <p.shkadzko gmail.com> writes:
On Monday, 13 January 2020 at 10:28:48 UTC, mark wrote:

 I'm just starting out learning D.

 Andrei Alexandrescu's "The D Programming Language" is 10 years 
 old, so is it still worth getting? (I don't know how much D has 
 changed in 10 years.)


Start with "Programming in D" by Ali: 
http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/index.html
A good all-rounder book for any level, you can easily skip the 
chapters if you already know the domain. It starts slowly with a 
lot of detail (which I personally liked) but then gets a bit 
rushed and sketchy in the end still a **must-read** for anyone 
who comes from Python or any other "high level" language since a 
lot of things will be new to you.

After studying Ali's book you will be pretty much ready to code, 
in fact you'll be ready to code in roughly a week or so since D 
is such an easy language to pick up ;)

Then you can go straight to "D Cookbook" by Adam: 
https://dlang.org/blog/2016/08/04/the-origins-of-the-d-cookbook/
Don't start this book if you don't know D at least a little or if 
you're quite experienced with C++. I find that C++ devs can 
quickly jump to D. The book is basically a collection of various 
problems and solutions in D with nice explanations. I am still on 
it.

"The D Programming Language" book by Andrei: 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321635361/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0321635361&linkCode=as2&tag=dlang-20&linkId=BOLS7NQK6MXCZTMG
I really enjoy Anrei's style of writing but I think this book is 
mostly an good evening read that is -- it is more about the 
history and ideas behind D. Good for high level understanding of 
the language concepts. (Correct me if I am wrong because I 
haven't read it fully yet).

Finally, you have plenty of materials on dlang website:
https://dlang.org/comparison.html
https://dlang.org/articles/index.html
Jan 13 2020
prev sibling next sibling parent reply p.shkadzko <p.shkadzko gmail.com> writes:
Has anyone read "d programming language tutorial: A Step By Step 
Appoach: Learn d programming language Fast"?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38328553-d-programming-language-tutorial?from_search=true&qid=G9QIeXioOJ&rank=3
Jan 29 2020
parent reply rumbu <rumbu rumbu.ro> writes:
On Wednesday, 29 January 2020 at 08:40:48 UTC, p.shkadzko wrote:

 Has anyone read "d programming language tutorial: A Step By 
 Step Appoach: Learn d programming language Fast"?

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38328553-d-programming-language-tutorial?from_search=true&qid=G9QIeXioOJ&rank=3


Beware, this is a scam.
This guy has hundreds of "books". These books are promoted on 
various forums for download. Of course, you must enter your CC to 
"prove your identity".
Jan 29 2020
parent p.shkadzko <p.shkadzko gmail.com> writes:
On Wednesday, 29 January 2020 at 08:56:26 UTC, rumbu wrote:

 On Wednesday, 29 January 2020 at 08:40:48 UTC, p.shkadzko wrote:

 Has anyone read "d programming language tutorial: A Step By 
 Step Appoach: Learn d programming language Fast"?

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38328553-d-programming-language-tutorial?from_search=true&qid=G9QIeXioOJ&rank=3


 Beware, this is a scam.
 This guy has hundreds of "books". These books are promoted on 
 various forums for download. Of course, you must enter your CC 
 to "prove your identity".


Uh, ok, thanks for information.
Jan 30 2020
prev sibling parent Marcone <marcone email.com> writes:
Programming in D - Tutorial and Reference 1st Edition
Free PDF Book.
Download: http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/index.html
Feb 09 2020