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Godspeed to the Crystal team. Third party library means everything. Otherwise you end up with the same problem: "cool language...now I need to bind it to a C l

Godspeed to the Crystal team. Third party library means everything. Otherwise you end up with the same problem: "cool language...now I need to bind it to a C library to do this..." Still betting on Rust and it's ecosystem.

sam0x17 8y ago
IMO Crystal as a lot more mass-appeal than Rust, and once people realize that the interest might swing in that direction as pretty much anyone could pick up Crystal. Rust is an awesome, very cool language, but Rust code is super weird looking, and the backflips you have to do to deal with safety make even basic tasks sometimes extraordinarily difficult, or so I've heard.
- wokawoka 8y ago
  "make even basic tasks sometimes extraordinarily difficult, or so I've heard" That would be an understatement :-) But it's a trade-off. You fight the borrow-checker to ensure safe code. It's really subjective. Are you using a language for front-end/middle-tier service/back-end process, etc. etc. Back in the day - you had a handful of people writing C code via CGI for web development. Every good language addresses a problem. Rust = safe code. Crystal = IMO...productivity.
  - RX14 8y ago
    Exactly. I wouldn't write a kernel or shared library in Crystal and I wouldn't write a webapp in Rust.
    - floatboth 8y ago
      > wouldn't write a webapp in Rust https://rocket.rs https://rocket.rs looks nice ;)
      - RX14 8y ago
        What other people subject themselves to is none of my business :) And there is need for HTTP frameworks in Rust, for example embedded stuff often hosts HTTP servers. However, just like C we frameworks, it's my opinion they're not for the average use case.
        wtetzner 8y ago
        Yes, and I can see HTTP frameworks in Rust useful for turning high-performance libraries into web services that can be used by other applications.
        RX14 8y ago
        Yeah, that makes a lot of sense too. For example a database might want to provide a REST api for management, which would make sense to write in rust if the DB was written in rust.
        ModernMech 8y ago
        Have you looked into iron/hyper? I’ve used them extensively and find them great and fast as hell.

sam0x17 8y ago

IMO Crystal as a lot more mass-appeal than Rust, and once people realize that the interest might swing in that direction as pretty much anyone could pick up Crystal. Rust is an awesome, very cool language, but Rust code is super weird looking, and the backflips you have to do to deal with safety make even basic tasks sometimes extraordinarily difficult, or so I've heard.

wokawoka 8y ago
"make even basic tasks sometimes extraordinarily difficult, or so I've heard" That would be an understatement :-) But it's a trade-off. You fight the borrow-checker to ensure safe code. It's really subjective. Are you using a language for front-end/middle-tier service/back-end process, etc. etc. Back in the day - you had a handful of people writing C code via CGI for web development. Every good language addresses a problem. Rust = safe code. Crystal = IMO...productivity.
- RX14 8y ago
  Exactly. I wouldn't write a kernel or shared library in Crystal and I wouldn't write a webapp in Rust.
  - floatboth 8y ago
    > wouldn't write a webapp in Rust https://rocket.rs https://rocket.rs looks nice ;)
    - RX14 8y ago
      What other people subject themselves to is none of my business :) And there is need for HTTP frameworks in Rust, for example embedded stuff often hosts HTTP servers. However, just like C we frameworks, it's my opinion they're not for the average use case.
      - wtetzner 8y ago
        Yes, and I can see HTTP frameworks in Rust useful for turning high-performance libraries into web services that can be used by other applications.
        RX14 8y ago
        Yeah, that makes a lot of sense too. For example a database might want to provide a REST api for management, which would make sense to write in rust if the DB was written in rust.
      - ModernMech 8y ago
        Have you looked into iron/hyper? I’ve used them extensively and find them great and fast as hell.