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Non-elitist take: Rust seems harder but it allows for compiler guided development. So there's a bit of an upfront learning cost but the maintenance cost is low
by marmada 4y ago
Non-elitist take:
Rust seems harder but it allows for compiler guided development. So there's a bit of an upfront learning cost but the maintenance cost is lower. If you change something in an enum variant, the compiler will basically tell you what to change everywhere in your codebase.
Specifically, Rust code has less assumptions, with lifetimes, mut, etc., Rust code is much easier to read. If I read a function, I need less awareness of other parts of the codebase because so much of the information is just there.
Counter-point: This is clearly not perfectly true, considering that I would still recommend Typescript over Rust for web dev.
More elitist take:
Rust is not hard. If you can pass a college algorithms class (i.e you can understand BFS/DFS/DP/Network Flow), you can understand Rust.
If your developers cannot write Rust code, you will probably pay the price in whatever language they write.
Counter point: This is clearly not 100% true since I would not say the same thing about Haskell even though arguably I could.
- omegalulw 4y ago> Counter point: This is clearly not 100% true since I would not say the same thing about Haskell even though arguably I could. This is not really a counter point. Any dev who struggles to write code in any modern programming language (after ramp of course) is arguably not a good programmer. Programming is far far more than code.
- webmaven 4y agoAs a beginning programmer over 30 years ago, I struggled trying to learn C++, and later found Java literally infuriating (which would later sour me on JavaScript through misplaced guilt-by-association). And then I discovered Python. What a revelation. Suddenly I was doing backend web development and building custom content management systems. Language ergonomics matter a LOT.
- formerkrogemp 4y agoRelevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/378/ https://xkcd.com/378/
- eternityforest 4y agoI would say low level languages, and pure functional languages, and other unusual things are an exception. I don't see how anyone could use Haskell or Scheme and especially not Forth without lots of experience in that specific paradigm, and lots of programmers don't prioritize learning languages they don't expect to encounter. They say Haskell makes you a better programmer, but does a lack of it make you a bad programmer?
- shirogane86x 4y agoWeird take: I actually do say the same for Haskell (disclaimer: I've used Haskell in all my personal stuff for about 5 years now) A lot of the stuff I used to hear and say about Haskell (about type driven and compiler driven development) is now making the rounds in the rust community, and I'm honestly super happy about it. I'm really happy that this way of programming by having a (not so) friendly chat with the compiler is gaining traction. Side note: performance is still black magic.