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Ask HN: Will Rust ever become a mainstream systems programming language?

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11–20 of 291 posts

Re: Ask HN: Will Rust ever become a mainstream systems programming language?

#11

It is

Certainly more then Nim.

I'd say, before Rust becomes really mainstream, we have to wait for the current generation of sysdevs to die.

But I guess till this is the case, there will be new languages invented that may be better than Rust.

On the other hand, most new companies don't hire old devs, so maybe IoT will give rise to new companies and young sysdevs all using Rust before the old generation is gone...

Re: Ask HN: Will Rust ever become a mainstream systems programming language?

#13
post #7

I think it has a fair chance (Go is a "systems" language and grew very quickly). I also believe you'll see it pop up in unikernels as well. Why, you ask? Because there's always 1 person that starts a project that gets traction. I don't see it growing and replacing C++ though. I don't think there's much incentive post C++11 to really consider porting anything (even small things) over. Most of the features Rust gets pr…

> if you need segfault protection, you're a bad programmer. Let's be honest, you don't segfault unless you're doing something idiotic. I've not segfaulted in the past 8 years in anything but assembly

sigh Please look at the "trophy case" here: http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/afl/

Re: Ask HN: Will Rust ever become a mainstream systems programming language?

#15
post #7

I think it has a fair chance (Go is a "systems" language and grew very quickly). I also believe you'll see it pop up in unikernels as well. Why, you ask? Because there's always 1 person that starts a project that gets traction. I don't see it growing and replacing C++ though. I don't think there's much incentive post C++11 to really consider porting anything (even small things) over. Most of the features Rust gets pr…

>Let's be honest, you don't segfault unless you're doing something idiotic.

I disagree, segfaults can arise out of simple mistakes in rare cases that aren't always immediately obvious - let alone a segfault in a complex system.

A sign of a good language is to as much as possible make invalid states illegal by design. Why, if you can reliably check for bad memory use with the compiler, would you not do so? Toughness is no measure of coder talent, otherwise the best of us would only be using assembly for everything.

Re: Ask HN: Will Rust ever become a mainstream systems programming language?

#16
post #12

I would say unlikely, for the simple reason that Rust is just really hard .

C++ is hard, too. So is C, to write correctly. Hasn't stopped either of them from literally powering almost every computer in use.

Rust's complexity is equivalent to, but distinct from C++'s. I prefer it over C++, and I'm one big fan of the latter.

Re: Ask HN: Will Rust ever become a mainstream systems programming language?

#17
Not too sure what is meant by "mainstream" but I can see Rust getting a foothold in certain industry, such as medical, automotive or aerospace. To get there, it will need to be mature and be stable significant enough. It will also need a big player to take that first step and prove it in production.

Imagine if Ford mandates its suppliers to use Rust for the software in its car and it faced little problems after a few years out on the road.

Re: Ask HN: Will Rust ever become a mainstream systems programming language?

#18
post #7

I think it has a fair chance (Go is a "systems" language and grew very quickly). I also believe you'll see it pop up in unikernels as well. Why, you ask? Because there's always 1 person that starts a project that gets traction. I don't see it growing and replacing C++ though. I don't think there's much incentive post C++11 to really consider porting anything (even small things) over. Most of the features Rust gets pr…

>"I don't think there's much incentive post C++11 to really consider porting anything (even small things) over"

I am curious why specifically C++ 11? Could you elaborate?

Re: Ask HN: Will Rust ever become a mainstream systems programming language?

#19

Not too sure what is meant by "mainstream" but I can see Rust getting a foothold in certain industry, such as medical, automotive or aerospace. To get there, it will need to be mature and be stable significant enough. It will also need a big player to take that first step and prove it in production. Imagine if Ford mandates its suppliers to use Rust for the software in its car and it faced little problems after a few…

I'm an aviation enthusiast and a CS undergrad. I've always wondered what's different about code written for airplanes. Anybody have any insight ? And is there a modern replacement for ADA?

Re: Ask HN: Will Rust ever become a mainstream systems programming language?

#20

It does keep rising in popularity, but is that coming from folks actually using system languages like C, C++, Ada, and Forth? I'm guessing only a portion. There's a difference between a web developer using Rust enthusiastically for hobby projects and a seasoned C coder switching to Rust for a professional job. In fact, a lot of the projects I've seen in Rust (ex: Dropbox) are commonly being done in Go as long as the…

You have a point. I've done medium-sized C projects in my degree, but my professional background is mostly web.

I've been using Rust heavily for 10 months. I think that if you want to use it for web stuff you very much can, but the language is more immature than it might first appear. If the community keeps going the way it is, I hope to work with it commercially by 2020.

The most promising things I've read about it as a serious systems language are from Cambridge Consultants [1,2], but there's a lot of ongoing work to make it ready for embedded work.

[1] http://blog.cambridgeconsultants.com/wireless-product-develo...

[2] http://blog.cambridgeconsultants.com/wireless-product-develo...

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