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Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta

engineering.fb.com

121–130 of 302 posts

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

#121

While this is cool to see "how the big guys do it", this article is worthless. Specifically, it lacks one fundamental thing: why. Why isn't Go in this list? It is very surprising since it feels like all off tech jumped on the Go bandwagon, though I won't complain. I can only guess at why, but it would be very interesting to see why. Why is Rust in the list, other than "so many people started to use it internally that…

Given the deliberate shortness of the list, I would rather ask why would they add it? It is not more performant than rust or c++, nor is it more productive than php or python. It is a high level language with not many interesting qualities over the litany of other GC-d languages that could equally well be added.

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

#122

While this is cool to see "how the big guys do it", this article is worthless. Specifically, it lacks one fundamental thing: why. Why isn't Go in this list? It is very surprising since it feels like all off tech jumped on the Go bandwagon, though I won't complain. I can only guess at why, but it would be very interesting to see why. Why is Rust in the list, other than "so many people started to use it internally that…

Go is mentioned and supported in specific use cases, just not as widely used as the other languages. It fits in a niche that overlaps with the supported languages, so there's no broad need for it.

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

#123
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 not an easy language to learn. Among languages in common use, it is almost certainly the most difficult language to learn.

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

#124
post #98

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…

> their ad business is still raking it in I haven't read any recent earnings statement, but curious how bad Apple's new privacy policies were for FB.

They nearly tripled their earnings from $10b~ to $28~ the past year, up from $5b in 2020. They've said the iOS changes may impact up to $10b~

Regardless of the expected loss, that overall increase and total billions in profit is not "dying" by any means.

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

#125
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 a…

A highly profitable multi-billion dollar company is dying?

Edgelord devs are a weird group.

Growth isn't everything, and Meta isn't dying anymore than MS is.

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

#126

While this is cool to see "how the big guys do it", this article is worthless. Specifically, it lacks one fundamental thing: why. Why isn't Go in this list? It is very surprising since it feels like all off tech jumped on the Go bandwagon, though I won't complain. I can only guess at why, but it would be very interesting to see why. Why is Rust in the list, other than "so many people started to use it internally that…

Isn't Go at least partially contributed and controlled by Google? My knowledge may be out of date. If it is it may make it a strategic move to not fully embrace it. Rust solves some of the problems Go attempts to solve at least and it is more community driven from what I understand. Please correct me!

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

#127
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 consi…

Going from C++ to Rust is pretty much the easiest path, since most of the "hard" parts of Rust are just automating stuff you do by hand in C++ anyway. For other languages where people regularly get tripped up on "what's the stack vs the heap?" coming to Rust it's a bit of a different story, ime. Talking about which object "owns" another that a pointer "outlives" what it points to are totally normal parlance for C++ d…

I came to rust from the other direction, as it were: from Haskell.

There are a lot of similarities! The type systems are similar, with some name changes (sum types -> enums, typeclasses -> traits). Pattern matching is basically the same. Haskell uses (lazy) lists mostly the same way rust uses iterators. Ownership is new, but imposes some of the same requirements that immutability does (no cycles without shenanigans[0]). Rust requires that values are aliasable XOR mutable: Haskell does too (they're always aliasable and never mutable).

[0] https://wiki.haskell.org/Tying_the_Knot

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

#128
post #51

What's always been interesting about the languages Meta uses is the story of the rise and fall of the D programming language at Meta. I wasn't around at the time when Andrei was working there and advocating for its adoption, but it seemed like he hit a wall at some point. By the time I joined all D services were being deprecated or rewritten. Rust seems to be doing far better. Though it's also worth noting that Go ne…

Rust is far more widely used than D in the industry, so it's no surprised that it's more supported at Meta.

Re: Go, it's use cases overlap with the officially supported languages, so there's no broad need for it.

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

#130
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that on Android it is only endorsed for system code by Google itself and OEMs, officially there are no plans to support it on the NDK, or Android Studio.

Yeah sorry I should have been more specific that I meant used in the operating system. That was my bad.

Nothing prevents Google to eventually change their mind in regards to its support on userspace, however given how the NDK has been managed all these years (as a kind of side project at least from the outside), I pretty much doubt it.
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