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Feels like this might be an example of "worse is better". Or alternately, that the community that SerenityOS has built and the joy they find in tinkering matte

Feels like this might be an example of "worse is better". Or alternately, that the community that SerenityOS has built and the joy they find in tinkering matters more than their technical foundations, in terms of getting something built that works and is maintained/maintainable. Servo looks like it could have been a technically better browser engine, but it seems the window for it becoming relevant is closing, while the future looks bright for SerenityOS's Browser. (I wonder how different things would be if Servo had reached the point where it was easy to run inside of a browser, in terms of dogfooding and getting people excited about it.) What I would like to see is SerenityOS's joy and welcoming, vibrant community using better technology (in terms of security, if nothing else). Zig seems like a candidate for this, although people may debate its security features and technical merits. I'd love to see more projects like these.

fabrice_d 5y ago
I agree with you about the project being a joy for the developers. But as a user, in no way I would rely on a browser started in 2020 written in c++ (or in zig, given other comments about its security characteristics). Keep in mind that gecko/webkit were written initially in c++ because c++ was the best language available at the time for these projects. This is not true anymore.
- somethingor 5y ago
  AFAIK SerenityOS has no interest in users, and instead targets developers exclusively.
- jjuel 5y ago
  The beauty is when you build your own OS with it's own desktop environment, and browser and tools from scratch you can use the language you feel is appropriate. Would you write a brand new project in a language you don't feel comfortable with just because it is perceived as "safer"? Especially when the project was just for fun, and really to help the creator get through some tough times in their life. Like he didn't start the project to compete with mainstream OSes or browsers. This is just a terrible take especially considering you probably use an OS written in C and a browser written in C++.
- pjmlp 5y ago
  Webkit is still C++, and with its market share slowly reaching zero (now at about 3%), the 10% of Rust code in Gecko hardly matter.

fabrice_d 5y ago

I agree with you about the project being a joy for the developers. But as a user, in no way I would rely on a browser started in 2020 written in c++ (or in zig, given other comments about its security characteristics). Keep in mind that gecko/webkit were written initially in c++ because c++ was the best language available at the time for these projects. This is not true anymore.

somethingor 5y ago
AFAIK SerenityOS has no interest in users, and instead targets developers exclusively.
jjuel 5y ago
The beauty is when you build your own OS with it's own desktop environment, and browser and tools from scratch you can use the language you feel is appropriate. Would you write a brand new project in a language you don't feel comfortable with just because it is perceived as "safer"? Especially when the project was just for fun, and really to help the creator get through some tough times in their life. Like he didn't start the project to compete with mainstream OSes or browsers. This is just a terrible take especially considering you probably use an OS written in C and a browser written in C++.
pjmlp 5y ago
Webkit is still C++, and with its market share slowly reaching zero (now at about 3%), the 10% of Rust code in Gecko hardly matter.