I agree with most of this, but I would say that D was probably designed to be an alternative to C++ or Java. Zig shares many of C's design philosophies, though I think D's syntax is a little closer to C's than Zig's is to C's.
D also has a betterC mode that removes some of those "kitchen sink" features, but I couldn't say how popular it's use is. Many people who use D like some of those features. Zig's more minimalistic approach to language features is closer to C's approach.
Zig likely has been influenced by D (among other languages), but I wouldn't be surprised if D's new importC functionality has been influenced by Zig.
I don't use D (or C or C++) at work, but learning D and using it at home has made me a much better programmer in the languages I use for work. Maybe I would have learned those lessons with C or C++, but I guess I took more easily to D than them.
> I agree with most of this, but I would say that D was probably designed to be an alternative to C++ or Java
You're agreeing with me then! D was pretty explicitly created due to WalterBright's (incidentally a prolific 60k+-karma HN user!), frustration with C++ and presumably the problems that stem from its requirement to maintain almost a 100% C compatibility. Bright is the founder of Digital Mars, a small company developing C and C++ (and D) compilers, so he has first-hand experience. Since 2007 D has been co-developed by Andrei Alexandrescu, a well-known C++ expert and one of the pioneers of template metaprogramming.
D also has a betterC mode that removes some of those "kitchen sink" features, but I couldn't say how popular it's use is. Many people who use D like some of those features. Zig's more minimalistic approach to language features is closer to C's approach.
Zig likely has been influenced by D (among other languages), but I wouldn't be surprised if D's new importC functionality has been influenced by Zig.
I don't use D (or C or C++) at work, but learning D and using it at home has made me a much better programmer in the languages I use for work. Maybe I would have learned those lessons with C or C++, but I guess I took more easily to D than them.