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I don't get the argument. Is the author complaining about complexity of languages like Rust? I.e. only simple languages supposedly have longevity? C++ is comple

by shmerl 7y ago

I don't get the argument. Is the author complaining about complexity of languages like Rust? I.e. only simple languages supposedly have longevity? C++ is complex, yet it already exists for quite a long time too. Just because C happens to be a long used language doesn't mean you shouldn't be using newer and better languages and that those languages can't be used for a long time too. C is used not due to big benefits, but mostly for legacy reasons today. Basically a lot of projects are already stuck with it. But for new ones, surely use Rust, not C.

giornogiovanna 7y ago
Honestly, if you care about longevity, Rust simply isn't the language yet. I'd at least wait until there's a specification and a GCC frontend. Anyway, C does have some benefits as a programming language. • "Legacy" projects like Linux and CPython will keep it alive for decades to come. • It's extremely portable. Rust is less portable, and even when Rust supports a niche platform, it's relatively clunky to get things started. • C libraries are always very easy to call from other languages. Rust isn't quite there yet, and translating things like traits can be a bit of a pain.
pjmlp 7y ago
Here is something that I can gladly agree with you.
95th 7y ago
Agree. At work, we have a component written in Pro* C (C + Oracle). It's about 20 years old code. All the original developers are now gone and now we're all Java developers. We had a segfault last month in production. No one was confident in the fix we did because even though we all know C (more or less), no one knew the pitfalls of C. Segfault happened in string formatting which is a very trivial thing to a Java developer. It's not yet rewritten in better language yet not because C is such good language but because rewrites are a pain. But because of the last segfault, the business is now more motivated to have it rewritten in Java.

by shmerl 7y ago

giornogiovanna 7y ago

Honestly, if you care about longevity, Rust simply isn't the language yet. I'd at least wait until there's a specification and a GCC frontend. Anyway, C does have some benefits as a programming language. • "Legacy" projects like Linux and CPython will keep it alive for decades to come. • It's extremely portable. Rust is less portable, and even when Rust supports a niche platform, it's relatively clunky to get things started. • C libraries are always very easy to call from other languages. Rust isn't quite there yet, and translating things like traits can be a bit of a pain.

pjmlp 7y ago

Here is something that I can gladly agree with you.

95th 7y ago

Agree. At work, we have a component written in Pro* C (C + Oracle). It's about 20 years old code. All the original developers are now gone and now we're all Java developers. We had a segfault last month in production. No one was confident in the fix we did because even though we all know C (more or less), no one knew the pitfalls of C. Segfault happened in string formatting which is a very trivial thing to a Java developer. It's not yet rewritten in better language yet not because C is such good language but because rewrites are a pain. But because of the last segfault, the business is now more motivated to have it rewritten in Java.