Re:What is Rust and why is it so popular?
by strbean on Tuesday January 21, 2020 @06:54PM
(#22113115)
Haven't used Rust, but I don't think your argument makes any sense.
Isn't the point the combination of features is unique?
It seems like if I invented a functional sledge hammer that only weighed 1oz, you'd say:
> It can hammer big nails? So can other sledge hammers!
> It only weighs 1oz? So does a plastic toy hammer!
> So I don't care.
Re:What is Rust and why is it so popular?
by steveklabnik on Tuesday January 21, 2020 @03:21PM
(#22111090)
> Actually how about compile type inference not only in function bodies?
This is actually an explicit design decision; it means that the analysis is tractable, and that you don't get spooky-at-a-distance error messages.
Re:What is Rust and why is it so popular?
by jhayward on Tuesday January 21, 2020 @06:16PM
(#22112825)
It's a major detractor, especially for people new to Rust.
The number of times I see people recommend "just cut and paste in whatever type the compiler said it expected ..." just makes my hair curl.
It also tends to make the code more obscure and unreadable, sometimes completely so.
Re:What is Rust and why is it so popular?
by jane_red on Tuesday January 21, 2020 @03:29PM
(#22111176)
Hmm, I see. It makes sense.
"It is a niche feature" looking at C and C++ usage that niche
is pretty huge.
Re:What is Rust and why is it so popular?
by jane_red on Tuesday January 21, 2020 @03:37PM
(#22111242)
It is, and C/C++ are used in so many areas which are not system programming right? Being a scientific Python backbone is one of them for example. My claim was that it is nothing out-of-ordinary. In fact, I really dislike the article's somewhat evangelist attempt to target newbies. These so-called benefits existed and do exist in so many other languages. The only thing that Rust comes with is memory safety which on closer look is actually an illusion and is a pretty evil one.
I would praise Rust for speed, yes. For ecosystem, yes. But that's it.
"My claim was that it is nothing out-of-ordinary". Well I guess will agree to disagree there are pretty prominent cases of very capable people trying to do a project in C++ and failing and then leveraging Rust and actually delivering.
Re:What is Rust and why is it so popular?
by jane_red on Tuesday January 21, 2020 @05:20PM
(#22112300)
And it would be great to read about such projects. But I have not heard about such. Maybe I would change my opinion.
Mozilla namely: "By 2017, Mozilla had made two previous attempts to parallelize the style system using C++. Both had failed." but they were able to complete it in Rust.
Re:What is Rust and why is it so popular?
by letian_north on Thursday January 23, 2020 @05:56AM
(#22126492)
I would be really surprised if they failed to do it with the language they invented.
Control over low-level details is something that exists and should be in any system-programming language. How is that even a benefit? It is a niche feature.
Memory safety? You can circumvent it by using "unsafe" and as recent Actix case shows it can propagate really deep. Should I read the code of any other Rust library now? What if I am a programmer newbie driven by the hype without a clue what does memory safety entail? What-ifs... I won't talk about compile times and the fact that in order to compile some cli tool one has to download ~200mb of rust "stuff". This is simply insane and I refuse to understand how is this considered to be not an issue.
Rust ecosystem is probably its strongest point right now which is somewhat funny because it grew out of beliefs in the above "benefits". So, not hyped, sorry.