4 ms·

This looks like a fairly nice website. For someone coming from a background of C and D, but familiar with quite a few others, I have to ask: what makes rust di

This looks like a fairly nice website. For someone coming from a background of C and D, but familiar with quite a few others, I have to ask: what makes rust different and better? Aside from memory safety, what reason do I have to choose rust over another language?

Paul-ish 9y ago
Did you have another language in mind? Eg Rusts safety means basically nothing if you are comparing it to Python or C#.
- earenndil 9y ago
  Not really, I more meant "in what situations should I choose rust and what makes rust the best choice in that situation instead of _any_ other language."
- kod 9y ago
  Python stops you from accidentally sharing mutable state across threads?
  - earenndil 9y ago
    Yes. Look up the GIL (Global Interpreter Lock).
    - kod 9y ago
      Which is why Python doesn't have thread locking... Except, it does. Perhaps that's because GIL isn't really helpful for preventing logical races? Yet it encourages a false sense of security?
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      The GIL doesn't stop you from sharing mutable state across threads, nor does it make it generally safe to do so.
Drdrdrq 9y ago
Resource safety and expressiveness on level of Python (or close) combined with speed of C. That said, while I love the idea of Rust I find the language itself offputting somehow. I don't know, maybe I just need to give it another try.
- sushisource 9y ago
  For me it's a love hate thing. I love the way it stops me from doing dumb shit, and really makes you think hard about how to architect properly. I hate annoying little nitpicky stuff like it won't auto-upcast a u8 to an i32, for example. There should at least be a compiler flag to allow that. I mostly love it though. The stuff that bothers me is relatively minor and I think will go away as I get more fluent with the language.
- earenndil 9y ago
  How are those different from, say, d, nim, or lisp?
mykull 9y ago
Good (and improving steadily) compiler feedback, centralized package manager, thoughtful approach to language versioning, a syntax that I like (very subjective), and the flexibility to write unsafe code blocks if for some reason you need to. Those are some of my reasons for liking it.
- erlend_sh 9y ago
  I would add: The most cohesive and supportive large-scale community I have ever seen for a programming language. The Rust team goes to great lengths to maintain a culture of constructive debate and good behavior. As a professional community builder I am in awe of the culture Rust has achieved in its inner circle as well as its extended ecosystem.

Paul-ish 9y ago

Did you have another language in mind? Eg Rusts safety means basically nothing if you are comparing it to Python or C#.

earenndil 9y ago
Not really, I more meant "in what situations should I choose rust and what makes rust the best choice in that situation instead of _any_ other language."
kod 9y ago
Python stops you from accidentally sharing mutable state across threads?
- earenndil 9y ago
  Yes. Look up the GIL (Global Interpreter Lock).
  - kod 9y ago
    Which is why Python doesn't have thread locking... Except, it does. Perhaps that's because GIL isn't really helpful for preventing logical races? Yet it encourages a false sense of security?
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    The GIL doesn't stop you from sharing mutable state across threads, nor does it make it generally safe to do so.

Drdrdrq 9y ago

Resource safety and expressiveness on level of Python (or close) combined with speed of C. That said, while I love the idea of Rust I find the language itself offputting somehow. I don't know, maybe I just need to give it another try.

sushisource 9y ago
For me it's a love hate thing. I love the way it stops me from doing dumb shit, and really makes you think hard about how to architect properly. I hate annoying little nitpicky stuff like it won't auto-upcast a u8 to an i32, for example. There should at least be a compiler flag to allow that. I mostly love it though. The stuff that bothers me is relatively minor and I think will go away as I get more fluent with the language.
earenndil 9y ago
How are those different from, say, d, nim, or lisp?

mykull 9y ago

Good (and improving steadily) compiler feedback, centralized package manager, thoughtful approach to language versioning, a syntax that I like (very subjective), and the flexibility to write unsafe code blocks if for some reason you need to. Those are some of my reasons for liking it.

erlend_sh 9y ago
I would add: The most cohesive and supportive large-scale community I have ever seen for a programming language. The Rust team goes to great lengths to maintain a culture of constructive debate and good behavior. As a professional community builder I am in awe of the culture Rust has achieved in its inner circle as well as its extended ecosystem.