3 ms·

I consider this a fundamental insight of Rust programming language: that it is a programming language optimized for long term usability. No wonder it is strugg

I consider this a fundamental insight of Rust programming language: that it is a programming language optimized for long term usability. No wonder it is struggling for adoption.

MaxBarraclough 6y ago
I wouldn't say Rust is 'struggling'. Compared to other languages, like say D and Nim, it's doing well. No language could possibly topple its incumbent rivals overnight. To do this, it would have to have great advantages over existing languages, and excellent interoperability, and an approachable learning-curve. That's essentially a contradiction. If your language offers a new and better way to do things, it pretty much must be unfamiliar to those who use older languages. If the concepts involved were similar, you'd be releasing a library, or publishing a compiler optimisation, rather than developing a whole new language. Perhaps that's a bit of a generalisation though. TypeScript isn't doing anything new, it's just adding an old and familiar feature (static type checking) to an old and familiar language that lacks it. In TypeScript's case, the feature isn't ground-breaking, but it's valuable enough that it may be worth the pain of using a different language.
- Symmetry 6y ago
  It seems like C++ offered all of "it would have to have great advantages over existing languages, and excellent interoperability, and an approachable learning-curve" and worked hard and made whatever compromises were needed to do it. Which is probably why it took off relatively quickly.
jnxx 6y ago
For the deeply conservative domain that infrastructure code is, it has a fantastic fast and enthusiastic adoption. It will take a while until it is used as a standard choice for building python extensions and such (which also makes sense, this stuff should last for some while).

3 ms·

I consider this a fundamental insight of Rust programming language: that it is a programming language optimized for long term usability. No wonder it is strugg

by sanxiyn 6y ago

I consider this a fundamental insight of Rust programming language: that it is a programming language optimized for long term usability. No wonder it is struggling for adoption.

MaxBarraclough 6y ago
I wouldn't say Rust is 'struggling'. Compared to other languages, like say D and Nim, it's doing well. No language could possibly topple its incumbent rivals overnight. To do this, it would have to have great advantages over existing languages, and excellent interoperability, and an approachable learning-curve. That's essentially a contradiction. If your language offers a new and better way to do things, it pretty much must be unfamiliar to those who use older languages. If the concepts involved were similar, you'd be releasing a library, or publishing a compiler optimisation, rather than developing a whole new language. Perhaps that's a bit of a generalisation though. TypeScript isn't doing anything new, it's just adding an old and familiar feature (static type checking) to an old and familiar language that lacks it. In TypeScript's case, the feature isn't ground-breaking, but it's valuable enough that it may be worth the pain of using a different language.
- Symmetry 6y ago
  It seems like C++ offered all of "it would have to have great advantages over existing languages, and excellent interoperability, and an approachable learning-curve" and worked hard and made whatever compromises were needed to do it. Which is probably why it took off relatively quickly.
jnxx 6y ago
For the deeply conservative domain that infrastructure code is, it has a fantastic fast and enthusiastic adoption. It will take a while until it is used as a standard choice for building python extensions and such (which also makes sense, this stuff should last for some while).