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Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta

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81–90 of 302 posts

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

#81

I'm very surprised that C++ is one of the recommended languages for backend services. I occasionally am interested in learning C++ but with my context as a web developer I find it doesn't really fit any of my use cases. How would one go about building a rest service in C++? Do you have to write everything yourself or are there libraries and frameworks. I did some light looking into it after reading the article but I…

"backend" does not necessarily means the part that receives the HTTP request from the client. It could be a microservice that speaks some other protocol, a load-balancer that sits in front of the web workers, and task runner, etc.

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

#82
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’ve been holding off learning Rust. Rust is quite an easy language to learn and a pleasurable language to use, due to its modern ergonomics and internal consistency. Give it a try. The only trick is that Rust newcomers actually need to read up on Rust borrow checker and lifetime annotations first, as opposed to learning Rust only through hacking with it. Those two concepts are unique to Rust and need to be well un…

I don't think Rust is easy to learn, it's has a kind of famously steep learning curve. The tooling is great which helps, but it's not easy for new-ish systems programmers.

Every video I've watched on youtube of Rust vs Go makes me think Rust is not a whole lot of fun to write.

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

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 a…

React/RN is the largest web & native cross-platform framework, Jest is one of the main testing tools as well. The Facebook app itself is massive, it's the most used classifieds, basically replacing craigslist, still used for many groups and many local businesses use it solely, their ad business is still raking it in. Event coordination and connections are maintained on FB since most everyone has it. Instagram isn't d…

[deleted]

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

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 a…

React/RN is the largest web & native cross-platform framework, Jest is one of the main testing tools as well. The Facebook app itself is massive, it's the most used classifieds, basically replacing craigslist, still used for many groups and many local businesses use it solely, their ad business is still raking it in. Event coordination and connections are maintained on FB since most everyone has it. Instagram isn't d…

Instagram changed their algo to prioritize video content over images though. I think it is a mistake.

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

#86

I used to work there, and I'm personally sad that JavaScript wasn't mentioned: I was the architect of https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3477132.3483572

Probably because most of the backend developers are former frontend developers that are sick of JS.

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

#87
post #30

“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.

> I’ve been holding off learning Rust. Rust is quite an easy language to learn and a pleasurable language to use, due to its modern ergonomics and internal consistency. Give it a try. The only trick is that Rust newcomers actually need to read up on Rust borrow checker and lifetime annotations first, as opposed to learning Rust only through hacking with it. Those two concepts are unique to Rust and need to be well un…

> Rust is quite an easy language to learn ... [except for these two incredibly complex topics that permeate the entire language]

For anyone coming from a GC language, Rust is a huge change.

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

#88

I'm very surprised that C++ is one of the recommended languages for backend services. I occasionally am interested in learning C++ but with my context as a web developer I find it doesn't really fit any of my use cases. How would one go about building a rest service in C++? Do you have to write everything yourself or are there libraries and frameworks. I did some light looking into it after reading the article but I…

There are libraries and frameworks.

Note that before Java adoption push we had stuff like ATLServer, and the first version of ASP were basically COM libraries being called from VBscript/JScript.

On our case, we were calling C code from TCL scripts, using plugins like mod_tcl.

Nowadays you have stuff like Boost ASIO and Wt.

However I wouldn't plug C or C++ directly into the Internet, rather call them from managed languages, as native libraries, reducing the risk of possible exploits.

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

#89
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’ve been holding off learning Rust. Rust is quite an easy language to learn and a pleasurable language to use, due to its modern ergonomics and internal consistency. Give it a try. The only trick is that Rust newcomers actually need to read up on Rust borrow checker and lifetime annotations first, as opposed to learning Rust only through hacking with it. Those two concepts are unique to Rust and need to be well un…

I don't think Rust is easy to learn, it's has a kind of famously steep learning curve. The tooling is great which helps, but it's not easy for new-ish systems programmers.

Well, you will probably think I'm crazy, but for me personally, having a couple of decades of C++ experience, learning Rust turned out to be much easier than learning... Swift. Yes, that famed, ultra-modern, great-as-your-first-programming-language Swift. Except for lifetime annotations and the borrow checker, Rust turned out to be much easier for my brain to parse and memorize than Swift, perhaps due to Rust's consistency and predictability and Swift's horrible language construct bloat.

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

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

React/RN is the largest web & native cross-platform framework, Jest is one of the main testing tools as well. The Facebook app itself is massive, it's the most used classifieds, basically replacing craigslist, still used for many groups and many local businesses use it solely, their ad business is still raking it in. Event coordination and connections are maintained on FB since most everyone has it. Instagram isn't d…

Instagram changed their algo to prioritize video content over images though. I think it is a mistake.

My wife's feed mainly shows images as that's mostly what her followers post.

People's habits have been switching to use videos (the bubbles) as they disappear. They are using it like SnapChat. It's not the algo that changed.

Your feed is just what your followers have recently posted. When you go to a profile the bubbles (videos) are at the top and the images / perm videos are in their gallery.

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