4 ms·

While I respect the author's anecdote, this doesn't match my experience. I've been programming for 20+ years across a wide array of languages and I'm by far the

While I respect the author's anecdote, this doesn't match my experience. I've been programming for 20+ years across a wide array of languages and I'm by far the most productive in Rust. With a competent teacher, experienced devs should be able to pick up on the memory model pretty quickly, and that is really the only initial blocker to productivity. After that a dev can essentially write procedural code if they want, like other common languages, while refining their thinking and practices towards idiomatic Rust.

almost_usual 4y ago
I agree mostly with this, however, ownership can be strange in Rust if you’re not familiar with it. Something simple like a linked list can be challenging to implement. https://rust-unofficial.github.io/too-many-lists/ https://rust-unofficial.github.io/too-many-lists/
- zozbot234 4y ago
  > Something simple like a linked list can be challenging to implement. Well, that's because linked lists are not simple. The linked blogpost makes that clear enough.
  - karmakurtisaani 4y ago
    To expand this a little, the perception that linked lists are easy comes from the fact that the garbage collector does all the heavy lifting on the background. Using a non-GC language reveals the complexities involved.
singularity2001 4y ago
how can you be more productive in rust, where you do have to worry about object lifetimes than in languages where you don't, and where you can focus more on algorithms, say java?
- errantmind 4y ago
  A couple reasons I'm more productive: 1. I'm familiar with lifetimes and they don't slow me down anymore. Also, I usually structure my projects such that I don't need to explicitly express them. 2. I spend a lot less time fixing bugs because Rust makes them impossible.
- josephcsible 4y ago
  Because the time you spend thinking about lifetimes is insignificant compared to the time you save by not having to fix bugs that lifetimes prevented from ever existing.

almost_usual 4y ago

I agree mostly with this, however, ownership can be strange in Rust if you’re not familiar with it. Something simple like a linked list can be challenging to implement. https://rust-unofficial.github.io/too-many-lists/ https://rust-unofficial.github.io/too-many-lists/

zozbot234 4y ago
> Something simple like a linked list can be challenging to implement. Well, that's because linked lists are not simple. The linked blogpost makes that clear enough.
- karmakurtisaani 4y ago
  To expand this a little, the perception that linked lists are easy comes from the fact that the garbage collector does all the heavy lifting on the background. Using a non-GC language reveals the complexities involved.

singularity2001 4y ago

how can you be more productive in rust, where you do have to worry about object lifetimes than in languages where you don't, and where you can focus more on algorithms, say java?

errantmind 4y ago
A couple reasons I'm more productive: 1. I'm familiar with lifetimes and they don't slow me down anymore. Also, I usually structure my projects such that I don't need to explicitly express them. 2. I spend a lot less time fixing bugs because Rust makes them impossible.
josephcsible 4y ago
Because the time you spend thinking about lifetimes is insignificant compared to the time you save by not having to fix bugs that lifetimes prevented from ever existing.