3 ms·

Zig and Nim are good bets. Both are pushing the state of the art forward on what is possible with system programming languages. D is probably another good bet.

throwawaydsstr 5y ago
What's the state of safety in zig? does it allow footguns like in C/C++ ? What about borrow checker(it makes program safe. isn't it?)? I would like to know advantages as well
- holonomically 5y ago
  The best answer I can provide is this document: https://ziglang.org/learn/overview/ https://ziglang.org/learn/overview/. It covers the main features of the language and how they compare to other languages like C, C++, and D. I personally think it has enough features like option types instead of null pointers, array bounds checking, generics, compile-time code execution, etc. for writing safe code but others might disagree.
- pcwalton 5y ago
  Zig is not memory safe, and is not meaningfully different from C and C++ in this way.
  - ncmncm 5y ago
    Anyway, not meaningfully different from C.
- verdagon 5y ago
  I believe it has release-safe mode, which protects against most use-after-free. This is sufficient safety for most applications, IMO. I only see it getting safer from here, with some advances on the horizon, such as memory tagging. The language has a lot of potential.
- dleslie 5y ago
  Zig does not have a borrow checker and allows footguns with relative ease. It's a C replacement, after all. Sounds like you want Nim.
the_only_law 5y ago
D seems really neat to me. I didn’t realize just how wide the language was until a few years ago. I thought it was just a C, but a little nicer and then I learned it had all sorts of stuff, like an actor framework built in.
- holonomically 5y ago
  That's news to me. I didn't know D had actors but I like it's meta-programming features because it cuts down on all sorts of boilerplate. I haven't used it that much, I just looked into it briefly for some low-level programming projects.

throwawaydsstr 5y ago

What's the state of safety in zig? does it allow footguns like in C/C++ ? What about borrow checker(it makes program safe. isn't it?)? I would like to know advantages as well

holonomically 5y ago
The best answer I can provide is this document: https://ziglang.org/learn/overview/ https://ziglang.org/learn/overview/. It covers the main features of the language and how they compare to other languages like C, C++, and D. I personally think it has enough features like option types instead of null pointers, array bounds checking, generics, compile-time code execution, etc. for writing safe code but others might disagree.
pcwalton 5y ago
Zig is not memory safe, and is not meaningfully different from C and C++ in this way.
- ncmncm 5y ago
  Anyway, not meaningfully different from C.
verdagon 5y ago
I believe it has release-safe mode, which protects against most use-after-free. This is sufficient safety for most applications, IMO. I only see it getting safer from here, with some advances on the horizon, such as memory tagging. The language has a lot of potential.
dleslie 5y ago
Zig does not have a borrow checker and allows footguns with relative ease. It's a C replacement, after all. Sounds like you want Nim.

the_only_law 5y ago

D seems really neat to me. I didn’t realize just how wide the language was until a few years ago. I thought it was just a C, but a little nicer and then I learned it had all sorts of stuff, like an actor framework built in.

holonomically 5y ago
That's news to me. I didn't know D had actors but I like it's meta-programming features because it cuts down on all sorts of boilerplate. I haven't used it that much, I just looked into it briefly for some low-level programming projects.