Google Launches Carbon, an Experimental Replacement for C++

#1

Post by isaacfrond » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 12:13 PM UTC

Google Launches Carbon, an Experimental Replacement for C++
thenewstack.io

Re: Google Launches Carbon, an Experimental Replacement for C++

#2

Post by miohtama » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 1:34 PM UTC

It’s clear that the value promise of Carbon is to make it attractive to port existing C++ applications to it.

But how this is accomplished, article does not go into detail in this. Is there going to be ABI compatibility with C++? What are the features that make Carbon a better porting target than Rust?

Re: Google Launches Carbon, an Experimental Replacement for C++

#3

Post by xenonite » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 1:34 PM UTC

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32151609

Re: Google Launches Carbon, an Experimental Replacement for C++

#4

Post by melling » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 1:35 PM UTC

I’m a big fan of ‘var’ and ‘let’ in Swift. Easier to identify mutable vs immutable variables. I believe Carbon uses the same convention?

https://github.com/carbon-language/carbon-lang

Helps with quick auto-completion, and someday when I get to dictate code, fewer mistakes.

Re: Google Launches Carbon, an Experimental Replacement for C++

#5

Post by hbossy » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 1:35 PM UTC

    var r : i32;

How is this any better than

    int32_t r;

? all I see is additional, unnecessary keyword to type.

Re: Google Launches Carbon, an Experimental Replacement for C++

#6

Post by sylware » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 1:36 PM UTC

If you cannot write a naive "carbon" compiler as a small team or even an normally skilled individual in a reasonable amount of time and effort, same abomination than c++ syntax, next.

Re: Google Launches Carbon, an Experimental Replacement for C++

#7

Post by oDot » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 1:38 PM UTC

Looks like there's no need to wait for Unreal Verse anymore

Re: Google Launches Carbon, an Experimental Replacement for C++

#8

Post by melling » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 1:41 PM UTC

hbossy wrote: post #5

var r : i32; How is this any better than int32_t r; ? all I see is additional, unnecessary keyword to type.

You type about the same number of characters. Now imagine you wanted to declare the value to be immutable.

Re: Google Launches Carbon, an Experimental Replacement for C++

#9

Post by udbhavs » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 1:43 PM UTC

I've been seeing a lot of references to this across youtube, reddit etc for a new experimental language. Is google putting their full weight behind this like Go or is the virality just incidental?

Re: Google Launches Carbon, an Experimental Replacement for C++

#10

Post by norman784 » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 1:44 PM UTC

hbossy wrote: post #5

var r : i32; How is this any better than int32_t r; ? all I see is additional, unnecessary keyword to type.

I think by using `var` keyword you have the potential to inherit the type without changing too much the syntax, in rust you could omit the type if the compiler can inherit the type, that saves you a lot of typing in the future, but you could argue that it makes harder to read the source code without any tool.