3 ms·

I used this as an intermediate step for getting a small rust geospatial library working with Google S2 Sphere, which is written in C++, until the Rust implement

I used this as an intermediate step for getting a small rust geospatial library working with Google S2 Sphere, which is written in C++, until the Rust implementation is ready. It works flawlessly. David Tolnay (https://github.com/dtolnay https://github.com/dtolnay) is great

saghm 5y ago
In case others are curious, dtolnay has written a huge number of proc macros that are widely used in the Rust ecosystem; in addition to cxx, he's the author of `serde` (library that supports serialization/deserialization in Rust), `thiserror` and `anyhow` (two of the most commonly used error handling libraries now that the fervor of new error handling libraries has died down), and even several utilities for writing new proc macros like `paste` (a way to concatenate identifiers for generating names of things in macro generation), `watt` (an engine for running proc macros sandboxed in WASM instead of directly in the rust compiler), and `proc-macro2` (an alternate API for creating proc macros that's used almost exclusively instead of directly using the standard library). He's like the Greek god of proc macros. I don't know if he was involved at all in their creation, but he's by far the most prolific proc macro author, and he seems to have an innate understanding of how to use them that goes far beyond what I imagine anyone really considered when they were created. Rust would still be the same language without his work, but it wouldn't feel at all like it, and there's a strong case to be made that Rust would not be anywhere close to as successful as it is today with him.
- paledot 5y ago
  When you mentioned serde, my reaction was, "oh, that's why the name sounds familiar". And then you mentioned anyhow. And proc-macro2. My goodness he's prolific. As someone who has been dragged down to the proc macro layer somewhat against my will, I'm not sure if I should be in awe or terror of an intellect that can be so consistently successful and useful in that world.

saghm 5y ago

In case others are curious, dtolnay has written a huge number of proc macros that are widely used in the Rust ecosystem; in addition to cxx, he's the author of `serde` (library that supports serialization/deserialization in Rust), `thiserror` and `anyhow` (two of the most commonly used error handling libraries now that the fervor of new error handling libraries has died down), and even several utilities for writing new proc macros like `paste` (a way to concatenate identifiers for generating names of things in macro generation), `watt` (an engine for running proc macros sandboxed in WASM instead of directly in the rust compiler), and `proc-macro2` (an alternate API for creating proc macros that's used almost exclusively instead of directly using the standard library). He's like the Greek god of proc macros. I don't know if he was involved at all in their creation, but he's by far the most prolific proc macro author, and he seems to have an innate understanding of how to use them that goes far beyond what I imagine anyone really considered when they were created. Rust would still be the same language without his work, but it wouldn't feel at all like it, and there's a strong case to be made that Rust would not be anywhere close to as successful as it is today with him.

paledot 5y ago
When you mentioned serde, my reaction was, "oh, that's why the name sounds familiar". And then you mentioned anyhow. And proc-macro2. My goodness he's prolific. As someone who has been dragged down to the proc macro layer somewhat against my will, I'm not sure if I should be in awe or terror of an intellect that can be so consistently successful and useful in that world.