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I believe that Rust is positioned to be the Next Big Language for server-side and application programming, taking over for C/C++/Java. I'm not sure if there's

I believe that Rust is positioned to be the Next Big Language for server-side and application programming, taking over for C/C++/Java. I'm not sure if there's a .NET-compatible implementation or interop but it'd likely take over C# as well if so, if Microsoft decides to invest in it. They have pretty good languages like F# already but Rust is designed around zero-cost abstractions and avoids the garbage collection penalty that comes with running on the JVM or .NET. Rust offers performance, type safety, memory safety, and metaprogramming that are provided by few other (largely academic) languages, while permitting multiple programming styles and escapes from those restrictions when you need them. On the other hand, I don't think the Web-oriented languages will go away unless someone develops a variant of Rust or Rust framework intended for building websites. However, for everything else that's not running inside a web page or supplying the content in a web server, I think we'll see a gradual transition to Rust; the web server will be in Rust; the JavaScript compiler will be in Rust; the browser will eventually be in Rust; and so on.

hderms 5y ago
I've been feeling this way as well. I think it all comes down to whether the ecosystem can be built up enough where your average developer can be productive without feeling like they're fighting the language or trying to figure out which smart pointer they need to use in which situation. Obviously those issues will still exist but could likely be mitigated if enough work is put into the ecosystem
TwoBit 5y ago
So what will be the security flaws we will see in Rust-based software in the future? Seems like there are still many kinds of flaws that no language can prevent.
throwaway189262 5y ago
It won't replace JVM/CLR. Rust community is pretty against GC and even though lifetimes are wayyyy better than C memory management they're not nearly as convenient as GC. If Rust ever gets a good GC it might very well replace VM languages. But even if they started now, it would take years. Rust also has long compile times. Java and C# projects, even huge ones, build in a couple seconds because compilation is done in JIT. Go is AOT but sacrifices some performance for fast compilation too. It's important for a general purpose language where performance is not #1 concern but maybe #2 or #3. Same story as GC. Sacrifice a small amount of performance for convenience. That's not what Rust is designed for. Rust is positioned as a systems language to replace C dialects and it that I think it will be wildly successful

hderms 5y ago

I've been feeling this way as well. I think it all comes down to whether the ecosystem can be built up enough where your average developer can be productive without feeling like they're fighting the language or trying to figure out which smart pointer they need to use in which situation. Obviously those issues will still exist but could likely be mitigated if enough work is put into the ecosystem

TwoBit 5y ago

So what will be the security flaws we will see in Rust-based software in the future? Seems like there are still many kinds of flaws that no language can prevent.

throwaway189262 5y ago

It won't replace JVM/CLR. Rust community is pretty against GC and even though lifetimes are wayyyy better than C memory management they're not nearly as convenient as GC. If Rust ever gets a good GC it might very well replace VM languages. But even if they started now, it would take years. Rust also has long compile times. Java and C# projects, even huge ones, build in a couple seconds because compilation is done in JIT. Go is AOT but sacrifices some performance for fast compilation too. It's important for a general purpose language where performance is not #1 concern but maybe #2 or #3. Same story as GC. Sacrifice a small amount of performance for convenience. That's not what Rust is designed for. Rust is positioned as a systems language to replace C dialects and it that I think it will be wildly successful