Microsoft D

Microsoft D is an end-user programming language in development as part of the company's Oslo service-oriented architecture (SOA) initiative. Microsoft describes D as a "textual modeling language."

Based on eXtensible Application Markup Language (XAML), D is designed to be more intuitive than most programming languages and to enable application modeling. The language is said to be "declarative," which means that it describes what an application is like rather than how it is created. 

According to Ken Knueven, federal programs manager at Microsoft, D will be able to generate the skeleton of an application from a sketch created by people without programming skills. This capacity will make it possible for end users to model applications with the necessary components and attributes. Introducing the Oslo initiative, Microsoft said that "Models will no longer just describe the application, they will be the application."

Some industry insiders have suggested that D is Microsoft's response to Adobe AIR, that company's runtime environment for developing rich Internet applications (RIA) for the desktop.

There are a number of other languages called D, including Digital Mars D.

Learn More About IT:
> Mary Jo Foley tells what she knows about Microsoft D.