“Why was Rust chosen for Libra?” in congressional hearing [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: “Why was Rust chosen for Libra?” in congressional hearing [video]

#51

Post by slaymaker1907 » Thu, Jul 18, 2019, 4:18 AM UTC

cj wrote: post #8

Congressman: I was really surprised about the Rust language. So my first question is, why was the Rust language chosen as the implementation language for Libra? Do you believe it's mature enough to handle the security challenges that will affect these large cryptocurrency transactions? Facebook: [We will own & control the code.] Congressman: It looks like Libra was built on the nightly build of the Rust programming l…

I think the congressman doesn’t quite understand that Rust nightly is far more stable than nightly anything else. It’s really more of a beta than a nightly sort of build assuming projects using it exercise even a small amount of restraint in which nightly features they use.

Re: “Why was Rust chosen for Libra?” in congressional hearing [video]

#52

Post by jasonhansel » Thu, Jul 18, 2019, 4:32 AM UTC

jasonhansel wrote: post #11

This congressman (or his aides) is surprisingly knowledgeable. I'm impressed with whoever thought to ask about nightly builds. Edit: for reference, this is the congressman who was accused of writing "Bigfoot erotica" during his campaign.

I really hope he invites a cryptozoologist to appear before the House.

Re: “Why was Rust chosen for Libra?” in congressional hearing [video]

#53

Post by m0zg » Thu, Jul 18, 2019, 4:38 AM UTC

There's hope for Congress after all. We can now be sure we have at least one congressman there who can tell a nightly build from a hole in the ground. It's very unusual to see congressional inquiry where the person _asking_ questions is more competent than the person(s) answering them. Most congress(men|women) struggle to complete coherent sentences, let alone talk about anything technically sophisticated.

Re: “Why was Rust chosen for Libra?” in congressional hearing [video]

#54

Post by throwaway3627 » Thu, Jul 18, 2019, 4:42 AM UTC

profalseidol wrote: post #27

cj wrote: post #8

Congressman: I was really surprised about the Rust language. So my first question is, why was the Rust language chosen as the implementation language for Libra? Do you believe it's mature enough to handle the security challenges that will affect these large cryptocurrency transactions? Facebook: [We will own & control the code.] Congressman: It looks like Libra was built on the nightly build of the Rust programming l…

It's cool to see a congressman who has this level of software dev knowledge.

Beto O'Rourke, POTUS candidate and currently in COTUS, was part of cDc.

Re: “Why was Rust chosen for Libra?” in congressional hearing [video]

#55

Post by jjakque » Thu, Jul 18, 2019, 5:03 AM UTC

cj wrote: post #8

Congressman: I was really surprised about the Rust language. So my first question is, why was the Rust language chosen as the implementation language for Libra? Do you believe it's mature enough to handle the security challenges that will affect these large cryptocurrency transactions? Facebook: [We will own & control the code.] Congressman: It looks like Libra was built on the nightly build of the Rust programming l…

I'm having trouble understanding implications to answers of these 2 questions when deciding legitimacy of Libra.

To elaborate my confusion:

* Why does choice of a programming language plays a part of deciding such product (a currency platform) is valid? If this is written in now-antagonized programming language (say, JavaScript, PHP etc), does such decision makes the product less legitimate?

* Similar with version/release of a programming language, how does knowing the answer to this question plays a part?

Re: “Why was Rust chosen for Libra?” in congressional hearing [video]

#56

Post by sjs382 » Thu, Jul 18, 2019, 5:04 AM UTC

throwaway3627 wrote: post #54

profalseidol wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's cool to see a congressman who has this level of software dev knowledge.

Beto O'Rourke, POTUS candidate and currently in COTUS, was part of cDc.

His term ended in January. Currently, Beto doesn't hold an office.

Re: “Why was Rust chosen for Libra?” in congressional hearing [video]

#57

Post by sesteel » Thu, Jul 18, 2019, 5:39 AM UTC

jjakque wrote: post #55

cj wrote: post #8

Congressman: I was really surprised about the Rust language. So my first question is, why was the Rust language chosen as the implementation language for Libra? Do you believe it's mature enough to handle the security challenges that will affect these large cryptocurrency transactions? Facebook: [We will own & control the code.] Congressman: It looks like Libra was built on the nightly build of the Rust programming l…

I'm having trouble understanding implications to answers of these 2 questions when deciding legitimacy of Libra. To elaborate my confusion: * Why does choice of a programming language plays a part of deciding such product (a currency platform) is valid? If this is written in now-antagonized programming language (say, JavaScript, PHP etc), does such decision makes the product less legitimate? * Similar with version/re…

Traditionally, government people have trust issues with programming languages as the compiler is, itself, an attack vector. If you are using a nightly release of the compiler, it may be assumed by some that the compiler is not vetted for security and could inject unstable or malicious code into another critical codebase. Also, Rust is considered very young for security type work, people rightly assume there are unfound weaknesses due to the newness of the language and related libraries.

Nevertheless, the government has allowed people to use Java for decades for highly secure codebases and it has had all kinds of issues.

Re: “Why was Rust chosen for Libra?” in congressional hearing [video]

#58

Post by apta » Thu, Jul 18, 2019, 6:25 AM UTC

sesteel wrote: post #57

jjakque wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm having trouble understanding implications to answers of these 2 questions when deciding legitimacy of Libra. To elaborate my confusion: * Why does choice of a programming language plays a part of deciding such product (a currency platform) is valid? If this is written in now-antagonized programming language (say, JavaScript, PHP etc), does such decision makes the product less legitimate? * Similar with version/re…

Traditionally, government people have trust issues with programming languages as the compiler is, itself, an attack vector. If you are using a nightly release of the compiler, it may be assumed by some that the compiler is not vetted for security and could inject unstable or malicious code into another critical codebase. Also, Rust is considered very young for security type work, people rightly assume there are unfou…

> Nevertheless, the government has allowed people to use Java for decades for highly secure codebases and it has had all kinds of issues.

That's interesting. What sorts of issues? Do you have sources for further reading?

Re: “Why was Rust chosen for Libra?” in congressional hearing [video]

#59

Post by wdr1 » Thu, Jul 18, 2019, 7:06 AM UTC

jasonhansel wrote: post #11

This congressman (or his aides) is surprisingly knowledgeable. I'm impressed with whoever thought to ask about nightly builds. Edit: for reference, this is the congressman who was accused of writing "Bigfoot erotica" during his campaign.

> Edit: for reference, this is the congressman who was accused of writing "Bigfoot erotica" during his campaign.

That was mostly a smear campaign by his political opponents.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/us/politics/bigfoot-porn....

Re: “Why was Rust chosen for Libra?” in congressional hearing [video]

#60

Post by moksly » Thu, Jul 18, 2019, 7:17 AM UTC

sesteel wrote: post #57

jjakque wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm having trouble understanding implications to answers of these 2 questions when deciding legitimacy of Libra. To elaborate my confusion: * Why does choice of a programming language plays a part of deciding such product (a currency platform) is valid? If this is written in now-antagonized programming language (say, JavaScript, PHP etc), does such decision makes the product less legitimate? * Similar with version/re…

Traditionally, government people have trust issues with programming languages as the compiler is, itself, an attack vector. If you are using a nightly release of the compiler, it may be assumed by some that the compiler is not vetted for security and could inject unstable or malicious code into another critical codebase. Also, Rust is considered very young for security type work, people rightly assume there are unfou…

Governments have issues with non-stable code because it changes rapidly, is untested and a security risk. Facebook moves fast and break things.

I think it exposes a key difference between a FAANG company and a lot of other development though. Because most of use simply use the programming languages as tools, but Facebook is actually going to change the Rust language to fit their needs.