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The Web isn't especially "safety-critical", and it rapidly evolves to meet stakeholder needs, but it still has a formal specification at the top that serves as
by _bxg1 7y ago
The Web isn't especially "safety-critical", and it rapidly evolves to meet stakeholder needs, but it still has a formal specification at the top that serves as the entry point for new features. This single source of truth is the touchstone for all involved parties, is where things get proposed and debated and decided, and then that filters down to browser vendors who implement the spec. This allows vendors to ensure cross-compatibility and allows the languages to be more than just a compiler or interpreter.
Having a formal spec isn't specific to the niche industries talked about in Sealed Rust; it's simply good practice for any open language project.
- Argorak 7y agoThe web is also well-known for implementation before specification and often specifying vendor-specific extensions because of widespread adoption. A specification is a touchstone, yes, but also a substantial effort. The Rust language is also built with vastly less manpower than the web specification! It's okay that you consider a specification good practice, but there's a ton of open source project that are not specified with the rigor you ask for, which kind of takes away the point... Those industries you mention are not niche.