Strong "just rewrite it in Rust" attitude coming through here.
Re:Using CMake and Managing Dependencies
by kstenerud on Wednesday May 26, 2021 @03:08AM
(#27287323)
Why would you rewrite it in rust? The engine is in C++. It's only the syntax part that's broken. So a new parser, new AST handling code, some engine section overhauls here and there to match the new reality. And they could even separate the engine from the syntax while they're at it, making it even more powerful. Simple? No. Necessary? Yes.
The alternative is to keep smearing more and more lipstick on the pig and hope people don't keep abandoning it, which is a shame because CMake COULD be great.
It's not only the syntax that is broken. The "type system" has quite a few holes in it because of the language. Many of them have no counterpart in other languages either. It would, for example, most likely still be stringly typed, so list representations would still get baked down into `;`-separated lists with all the problems that entails.
I once contributed to and even built a number of projects using CMake, but have since vowed that I'll never EVER open another CMakeLists.txt again, and will toss any CMake-based project that has builder errors I'd otherwise have to debug. CMake is the only build system of the dozens I've used over the last 30 years that has driven me to this. For awhile I held up hope with the advent of "Modern CMake", but alas it's not enough to fix things, and I doubt the syntax could ever be fixed.