5 ms·

Your argument reminds me of one about forefoot running vs heel strike. Forefoot running is supposedly the natural way to run and some people are really enthusia

Your argument reminds me of one about forefoot running vs heel strike. Forefoot running is supposedly the natural way to run and some people are really enthusiastic about it, but you say it's really hard to switch, since you're already used to the heel strike you learned in school - and there are plenty of highly engineered shoes to make it comfortable, anyway. And then you conclude: Forefoot runner are delusional, people will never switch and throw away their fancy shoes. Rust requires you to think differently quite a bit, so of course "experienced" programmers gonna struggle disproportionately. Going from Java to Python is hardly a fair comparison. Rust is increasingly taught at universities, which means people are not as shaped by their experience and habits as much and grow into Rust's way of thinking. Keep your cushioning, why take it personal?

givemeethekeys 3y ago
Aren't all opinions on Hacker News personal? :) I don't think that the forefoot running analogy works here. As you put it, forefoot running is the natural way to run. I don't think you can say that about Rust even if Rust is your first programming language. I do agree that teaching it when people are young will make it easier for them to grasp. I hope that this will turn out a few people who don't consider Rust challenging even after years of programming in Rust. I recently started programming in Python after not having done it since college. Along the way I've written code in Ruby, PHP, Objective C, Elixir, JavaScript, and I think even some C. I've even spent time learning Rust. I learned Python in half a day. I bet a derivative of Python that forced memory management onto users would be easier to learn than Rust because, generally speaking, in Python there is one good way to do most things. Nice and simple.
Reki 3y ago
The difference is that forefoot running is harder, but _simpler_. You dont even need highly engineering shoes to run using it, especially barefoot. You can run on bare metal.

givemeethekeys 3y ago

Aren't all opinions on Hacker News personal? :) I don't think that the forefoot running analogy works here. As you put it, forefoot running is the natural way to run. I don't think you can say that about Rust even if Rust is your first programming language. I do agree that teaching it when people are young will make it easier for them to grasp. I hope that this will turn out a few people who don't consider Rust challenging even after years of programming in Rust. I recently started programming in Python after not having done it since college. Along the way I've written code in Ruby, PHP, Objective C, Elixir, JavaScript, and I think even some C. I've even spent time learning Rust. I learned Python in half a day. I bet a derivative of Python that forced memory management onto users would be easier to learn than Rust because, generally speaking, in Python there is one good way to do most things. Nice and simple.

Reki 3y ago

The difference is that forefoot running is harder, but _simpler_. You dont even need highly engineering shoes to run using it, especially barefoot. You can run on bare metal.