4 ms·

> I also can't envision a common scenario in which I would have a machine that doesn't have a c compiler but I would be able to run an APE executable 99.99% of

> I also can't envision a common scenario in which I would have a machine that doesn't have a c compiler but I would be able to run an APE executable 99.99% of people who want to run executables on mac or windows don't have a C or C++ compiler installed and wouldn't have the knowledge to operate it if they did. And if you want to install the default one for these platforms (MSVC or XCode) it's at least 30 minutes of download + 30 minutes of installation. For me this really solves an actual problem I've had customers & team members ask me hundreds of time - "how can I compile a Qt app for Mac when I'm on Windows" (and the inverse)

loglog 2y ago
For me, cargo is among the most reliable package managers these days. It is about as convenient as any other Linux package manager (and therefore much better than the feeble Windows or Mac alternatives), yet also compiles from source. I evidently don't fall into the 99.99% of Windows users without a C compiler, but I also never write Rust. Anyway, the point that I am making is that it is entirely possible to have a distribution chain that involves a compiler and a user that does not know how to operate that compiler. And how is that fundamentally different from JIT compilation in a JVM or JS runtime anyway?