this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2024
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That seems like a poor attitude imo.
A valid point tho. Generally it is difficult to ask everybody to learn a new language.
I mean, I work as a software engineering and if I'm not doing continuing ed, be it about architecture, storage, or new languages, I'm going to be of less value in the marketplace. I've learnt languages I didn't particularly want to in the past for work (though I generally came to tolerate or even like some of them. Not lua, though; lua can go to hell).
If Rust truly is the better, safer option, then these people are holding everything back.
C/C++ is the bedrock of our modern civilization in some ways more fundamental than actual bedrock, the first step in getting any OS running is making it run C and after that you are basically done, it’s not surprising that developers resist, if nothing else it’s a common language, and standards are hard to change on the best of days. This isn’t just learning a language, it’s a complete paradigm shift.
The bedrock of modern civilizations is expensive to develop, buggy and unergonomic though.
If you make C run, you probably (I'm not sure, would have to verify) can make rust run. And if there isn't yet, there will probably soon be a C compiler written in rust, so you can choose to bootstrap from wherever you prefer.
C's ABI will probably last longer than C, since there is not a stable rust ABI though.
You cannot, today, build a Rust compiler directly from C, but you're right that people are working on it. See this recent post: https://notgull.net/announcing-dozer/
Edit: you can certainly bootstrap Rust from C via C++, as the article covers. I misinterpreted the comment above.
Currently it's a long chain from an early version of GCC to the latest one, then mrustc (in C++) which can compile rustc 1.54.0.
To be fair, in that article mentions the way to get rust from C. Sure, there is not a compiler written in C, but C is down there in the list of compilers needed for rust, so "just" need to compile some other compilers in the middle.
Ah, sorry, I misinterpreted your comment somehow. Yes, Rust is bootstrappable today, it's just a much longer process than it would be if there were a compiler written in C.
Fortunately, they aren’t being asked to do that. All the rust team was requesting was metadata about the call signatures so that they could have a grasp on expected behavior.
It would be a valid point if he weren't literally speaking over the people trying to tell him that they're not demanding he learn Rust: https://youtu.be/WiPp9YEBV0Q?si=b3OB4Y9LU-ffJA4c&t=1548
It isn't unreasonable to ask someone to learn a new language, if they currently only speak Sumeric.
Oh jeeze, you have no idea. You can watch it yourself: https://youtu.be/WiPp9YEBV0Q?si=b3OB4Y9LU-ffJA4c&t=1548
That timestamp is about where the audience member (a maintainer of ext4 and related utilities) starts speaking. The "here's the thing" quote is around 28:40.
Wow what an absolute dick
If the linux kernel had any real budget to speak of, they could hire rust experts to maintain the rust code. But the "linux" foundation spends 2% of its budget on Linux, this is the situation you end up with.
Anti Commercial-AI license
I believe that's incorrect. The reporter who started this rumor either misunderstood the meaning of the chart or was lying through his teeth. I'll find the original source and share it here later.
Linux Foundation Report.
This is the actual source. If you simply scroll through it, you'll see they're investing in many things that move the Linux ecosystem forward. Open standards, open hardware, security in the software stack, providing for latest market needs, keeping an eye on legislation that could affect Linux, staying in touch with important entities in the industry, and so on.
Scroll down near the bottom and you'll find where the reporter got their information from. It's an expenditure chart and, sure enough, it says "Linux Kernel Support 2%" Note, however, that it also says:
Note that it doesn't say how any of them is further divided. Remember all the things I mentioned earlier? All of that is value for Linux as a whole.
Software projects aren't just about programming the big thing. Working on a large project will show you this. Could the foundation spend more on Linux? Maybe. But saying they only spend 2% on it is disingenuous.
The reporter doesn't mention this in his clickbait piece, either because he doesn't get it in the first place, or more likely because he just wants to push his views.
This is yet another example why Lunduke isn't a credible source of news.
I mean aren't they forcing everyone else to learn C/C++ otherwise? If we follow that logic, at least
I guess you can argue it's already written in C. So that was always a requirement.
That way we'll just find maintainers went near extinct over time, just like COBOL developers that are as rare as they are expensive. Only Linux kernel isn't a bank, and maybe will not have as much money to pay to rare developers capable of maintaining C codebase
Care to take a shot at figuring out why COBOL is still used today?
I mean, feel free to waste your time arguing for rewrites in your flavor of the month. That's how many failed projects start, too, so you can have your shot at proving them wrong.
But in the meantime you can try to think about the problem, because "rewrite it in Rust" is only reasonable for the types who are completely oblivious to the realities of professional software development.
It's used because the ones who use it have enough money to pay for any problems that may arise from it's use, and known problems are deemed better than unknown ones.
It is a viable model when you have enough money and resources, but a conservative one
That's laughable. Literally the whole world uses it. Are you telling me that everyone in the world just loves to waste money? Unbelievable.
Have you ever worked at large old corporation? Wasting money is a bit of an underestimation on that scale.
Also, not all banks use COBOL, but the ones that don't are usually much younger.
Besides, Ada would've been a better example, as it is used by telecoms and seems to be held in high regard, unlike COBOL. The only issue with Ada I heard of is that it's on par with C++ in complexity which is far from being simple.
I'm not sure you understand that it's way more than "large old corporations" that use it. Everyone uses it, from large multinationals to small one-taxi shops, and even guys like you and me in personal projects. This has been going on for years. I really don't know what led you to talk about large old corporations, seriously.
Are we still talking about COBOL?
Yeah, I know, but I meant that that technically forces C on everyone.
Why do you believe that forcing something onto everyone around you is justifiable? I mean, if what you're pushing is half as good as what you're claiming it to be, wouldn't you be seeing people lining up to jump on the bandwagon?
It's strange how people push tools not based on technical merits and technological traits, but on fads and peer pressure.
It is literally being pushed for its technical merits and traits.
Memory safe code with comparable performance in the kernel seems like an absolute no brainer.
Also if you watch the video all he's asking for is consistent interfaces for the file systems. He's not even trying to get them to use rust. And the guy starts screeching about how he'll code however he wants.
Is it wrong to expect a consistent and well documented interface?
Pretty sure C is actually being pushed against its technical merits here.
It's wrong to force it. Most choices in history don't end up with the best one being used. Beta was better than VHS for example. Rust people are very bad at convincing others to try it, and objectively many people just don't want to or don't like it for various reasons.
Personally I highly dislike the syntax. People like familiar things, and to me it's just too different from C++.
If anything I think Swift will be an easier sell when the speed and cross-platform issues are solved.
I don't think that everyone has to switch to rust or anything but "I dislike the syntax" and "I only want familiar things" are really bad arguments for not using a language. Try something outside of your comfort zone for a bit, it will help you grow as a programmer.
I have, I still don't like it and I have tried several times to get used to it and I just can't. I don't see any problem in avoiding a language because of its syntax that is painful for me to look at all day.
Regardless of whether you think those reasons are subjectively bad or not, it is the current reality for many developers.
If you're hobby programming then do whatever you want obviously but if you're part of some sort of larger project that's trying to decide between Rust and C++ then subjective aesthetic arguments probably aren't going to be considered as heavily as technical ones (and rightfully so), which in Rusts case could be that certain classes of bugs are impossible. That's not to say that it's not possible to make a technical case for C++ over rust but syntax preferences probably aren't going to play a large role in how widely used either languages are, which is good.
I think syntax preference plays an enormous role in convincing people to even try it.
I dunno, CMake has one of the worst syntaxes I've ever seen, and despite that it's one of the most popular languages used for C/C++ build scripting. This is because it has certain technical benefits compared to its competitors. I'm certain that having "bad" syntax is a disadvantage but it's less important than other factors. Also I don't think that Rusts syntax is universally disliked either.
Unfortunately 😅
I think the point is they aren't forcing it at all. It's being used with the blessing of Linux Jesus and the others are just throwing their toys out of the pram because they don't want to learn it.
Someone else linked the video on this post. They are rude as hell and the rust dev isn't even asking them to use it.
Again I think that's a bad attitude towards technology. Use the best tool for the job and you'd get used to the syntax pretty quickly.
It's like someone who started on python not wanting to learn a c style language.
Get a Foot in the Door
It starts with "no, you don't have to learn it",
to "your changes are breaking Rust stuff, let's waste time together to fix it, else I call it 'bad attitude'"
to "you better make your stuff that way if you don't want to break Rust stuff (and waste your time me)"
to "do it my way, Rust is taking longer to fix and I would have to refactor all the code because of the lifetime cancer"
to the original senior kernel dev saying: "fuck it, I quit, the kernel is such a mess with the Rust BS" ... People don't want you at the party, make your own party with your own friends we don't want you here
It's not complicated.
I mean I've still yet to hear a reason not to use rust tbf.
But yes that's what working in a team is like.
I have to do stuff at work so I don't fuck over the frontend team. I don't throw a little tantrum about it.
Badgering
You can't take NO as an answer, don't you?
That's bad attitude
Linux is not "work"; you surely don't grasp the reality of the situation here.
And "tbf", the incessant pushing of Rust from people like you is a perfectly fine reason to not use Rust...
You're unpleasant to talk to.
Beta was not better than VHS. Anybody could build a competing VHS machine, and it supported feature length films.
I would go so far as to say that yes most choices do end up with the best one being used, because people like nice things. Programmers just aren't persuasive people in general, give it time.
It was better in audio/video quality and being smaller, but not runtimes.