Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta • Hacker News Board

Re: Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta

#21

Post by beastman82 » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 5:05 PM UTC

37ef_ced3 wrote: post #12

troutwine wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What language(s), to your mind, would send a positive signal?

Go. The obvious right choice. But Meta is in the advertising business and Google is a competitor.

I agree with none of this except that they're competing w/ Google.

Re: Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta

#22

Post by codetrotter » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 5:05 PM UTC

vo_9812 wrote: post #2

I am excited to see Rust gaining popularity and becoming a first-class language at Meta.

> Rust gaining popularity

As it should.

Beyond that though. How relevant even is Meta anymore? They are a dying company aren’t they? Facebook hasn’t been relevant in ages. Instagram is losing footing too.

Only way I can see them maintaining relevance is if one or more of the following happens:

- They turn out to be right in their bet on VR and Metaverse. Personally I doubt it, and I think VR and Metaverse is closer akin to a hellscape than much else. Or,

- TikTok is banned like some media is talking about happening. Then people might flock to Instagram. Or,

- They aquire another up and coming social network. Maybe they will buy BeReal?

Re: Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta

#23

Post by Jtsummers » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 5:06 PM UTC

rafaelturk wrote: post #19

preseinger wrote: post #5

I'm surprised at the list. Rust is fundamentally immature, C++ is fundamentally intractable, Python is fundamentally unusable at scale, and Hack is, well, no discussion needed. Strong negative signal for potential candidates.

Curius why people downvote this.. its a perfect valid argument.

> Curius why people downvote this.. its a perfect valid argument.

Because it's a list of opinions on languages. No specifics provided, and stated in a way that appears to be trolling (deliberate or accidental on the author's part). Comments like that are a dime a dozen in programming language threads and add nothing to the overall conversation.

Re: Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta

#24

Post by matdehaast » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 5:06 PM UTC

ipaddr wrote: post #20

Not surprised at the list. Hack stands out as unique to facebook. Is hack being used in other large companies? I wonder if they will ever move back to php now that many issues facebook had have been resolved in later versions.

Could be mistaken by I think slack uses it

Re: Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta

#25

Post by philjr » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 5:07 PM UTC

I remember interviewing there in 2009 and I stopped counting the number of languages I was told were being used on the SRO / backend side. I'm sure it wasn't, but it seemed like it was basically "everything" :-)

Re: Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta

#26

Post by tbliu » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 5:07 PM UTC

ipaddr wrote: post #20

Not surprised at the list. Hack stands out as unique to facebook. Is hack being used in other large companies? I wonder if they will ever move back to php now that many issues facebook had have been resolved in later versions.

Apparently Slack uses it (https://slack.engineering/hacklang-at-slack-a-better-php/).

Re: Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta

#27

Post by blowski » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 5:08 PM UTC

rafaelturk wrote: post #19

preseinger wrote: post #5

I'm surprised at the list. Rust is fundamentally immature, C++ is fundamentally intractable, Python is fundamentally unusable at scale, and Hack is, well, no discussion needed. Strong negative signal for potential candidates.

Curius why people downvote this.. its a perfect valid argument.

I’d hazard a guess that Meta put a fair amount of effort into coming up with that list, applying business context to their specific technology problems.

Whereas the OP simply reeled off a list of half-baked subjective opinions.

Re: Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta

#28

Post by frob » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 5:09 PM UTC

alhirzel wrote: post #3

Where at Meta is Haskell primarily used?

It also powers the backend of Wit.ai which FB owns. Wit's open-source entity parser, duckling, is written entirely in Haskell. https://github.com/facebook/duckling

Re: Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta

#29

Post by ninth_ant » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 5:09 PM UTC

rafaelturk wrote: post #19

preseinger wrote: post #5

I'm surprised at the list. Rust is fundamentally immature, C++ is fundamentally intractable, Python is fundamentally unusable at scale, and Hack is, well, no discussion needed. Strong negative signal for potential candidates.

Curius why people downvote this.. its a perfect valid argument.

The “all languages are ‘fundamentally’ bad except my favourite” argument?

It’s bad no matter what single language you’re promoting.

Re: Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta

#30

Post by melling » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 5:09 PM UTC

“Since we began our journey with Rust, the number of projects using Rust inside Meta has increased at an accelerated rate”

That almost sounds like an endorsement. I’ve been holding off learning Rust. However, it seems like Rust adoption is reaching a tipping point.