Re:What is Rust and why is it so popular?
by zozbot234 on Tuesday January 21, 2020 @06:32PM
(#22112939)
Haskell is easier to learn than Rust because it's literally just math. There is no "dropping" variables and no need to side-step the lack of GC, because you never "drop" a variable that you've stopped using in a math proof. You just let the GC deal with all that stuff. And you don't have a "stack" vs. "heap" distinction, instead you work directly in terms of function arguments and the returned values. You have currying so you can work naturally with parameterized and partially-applied functions, just like in math, etc. Lazy evaluation for "infinite" sequences and objects. That kind of stuff.
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Re:What is Rust and why is it so popular?
by ncmncm on Wednesday January 22, 2020 @12:37AM
(#22114922)
GC is OK if the only resource your program needs to manage is RAM; and, in particular if time is not among them. There are many such programs, including the favorites of Computer Science, such as compilers.
Add a single other resource, and now you need resource management. Once you have resource management, memory is the easiest thing to plug into it.
If you start out having resource management, you never wonder whether GC would be a good idea. GC turns into a solution desperately looking for a problem, and finding none in your neighborhood.
Re:What is Rust and why is it so popular?
by sdegutis on Tuesday January 21, 2020 @07:02PM
(#22113160)
> Haskell is easier to learn than Rust because it's literally just math.
That explains why it was so hard for me to learn: I'm awful at math. The most advanced math I could understand was high school algebra.
Re:What is Rust and why is it so popular?
by ncmncm on Wednesday January 22, 2020 @12:43AM
(#22114945)
Haskell is great if you would rather be doing maths than solving actual, real-world problems. And, either don't care about performance, or like subverting your design to get it.
There are plenty of such people, and they need something to do that keeps them out of the way of people interested in solving real problems efficiently.