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Ladybird adopts Rust, with help from AI

ladybird.org

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Re: Ladybird adopts Rust, with help from AI

#81

Post by rausr »

bramhaag wrote: post #75
rausr wrote: post #70

I must admit to being somewhat confused by the article's claim that Rust and C++ emit bytecode. To my knowledge, neither do (unless they're both targeting WASM?) - is there something I'm missing or is the author just using the wrong words? EDIT: bramhaag pointed out the error of my ways. Thanks bramhaag!

By 'Rust compiler' and 'C++ compiler', they refer to the LibJS bytecode generator implemented in those languages. This is about the generated JS bytecode.

Yes, I re-read again, and I think you are correct. Thanks!

Re: Ladybird adopts Rust, with help from AI

#82

Post by [deleted] »

rausr wrote: post #70

I must admit to being somewhat confused by the article's claim that Rust and C++ emit bytecode. To my knowledge, neither do (unless they're both targeting WASM?) - is there something I'm missing or is the author just using the wrong words? EDIT: bramhaag pointed out the error of my ways. Thanks bramhaag!

[deleted]

Re: Ladybird adopts Rust, with help from AI

#84

Post by ozgrakkurt »

qudat wrote: post #7

> We know the result isn’t idiomatic Rust, and there’s a lot that can be simplified once we’re comfortable retiring the C++ pipeline. That cleanup will come in time. Correct me if I’m wrong since I don’t know these two languages, but like some other languages, doing things the idiomatic way could be dramatically different. Is “cleanup” doing a lot of heavy lifting here? Could that also mean another complete rewrite f…

Spending weeks porting (presumably) working code with LLM is a bit strange

Re: Ladybird adopts Rust, with help from AI

#85

Post by easton »

I know he doesn't make live coding videos anymore, but it'd be cool if Andreas showed off how this worked a little more. I'm curious how much he had to fix by hand (vs reprompting or spinning a different model or whatever).

Re: Ladybird adopts Rust, with help from AI

#86

Post by nicoburns »

abuyalip wrote: post #74
christophilus wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been part of at least 2 successful rewrites. I think that Joel’s post is too often taken as gospel. Sometimes a rewrite is the best way forward. Moving Ladybird from C++ to a safer more modern language is a real differentiator vs other browsers, and will probably pay dividends. Doing it now is better than doing it once ladybird is fully established. One last point about rewrites: you can look at any industry dis…

I still don’t buy this “safer more modern” mentality. Modern C++ pretty much solves the safety issues. People need to learn how to use tools properly. If you ask me, Go is a better Rust. Rust is an ugly version of C++ with longer compile times and a band of zealous missionaries. I mean the keywords mut and fn very annoying to read just get rid of them or spell the f*n thing function.

> Modern C++ pretty much solves the safety issues.

The statistics from projects that have adopted Rust and measured the effect say otherwise. See https://security.googleblog.com/2025/11/rust-in-android-move... for example.

Re: Ladybird adopts Rust, with help from AI

#87

Post by stratos123 »

skavi wrote: post #43
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But Rust doesn't have C++ interop at all? It also doesn't have the disadvantages of Swift. Once the promise of Swift/C++ interop is gone there isn't enough left to recommend it.

I’m curious what issues people were running into with Swift’s built in C++ interop? I haven’t had the chance to use it myself, but it seemed reasonable to me at a surface level.

There's a list of unsolved problems in this Ladybird issue, now closed because they dropped Swift: https://github.com/LadybirdBrowser/ladybird/issues/933

for example: "Swift fails to import clang modules with #include with libstdc++-15 installed. Workaround: None (!!)"

Re: Ladybird adopts Rust, with help from AI

#89

Post by ramon156 »

latexr wrote: post #80
ramon156 wrote: post #38

I'm a long-time Rust fan and have no idea how to respond. I think I need a lot more info about this migration, especially since Ladybird devs have been very vocal about being "anti-rust" (I guess more anti-hype, where Rust was the hype). I don't know if it's a good fit. Not because they're writing a browser engine in Rust (good), but because Ladybird praises CPP/Swift currently and have no idea what the contributor's…

> Ladybird praises CPP/Swift currently Not anymore. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47067678

I guess I missed this, thanks!

Re: Ladybird adopts Rust, with help from AI

#90

Post by smartmic »

ramon156 wrote: post #38

I'm a long-time Rust fan and have no idea how to respond. I think I need a lot more info about this migration, especially since Ladybird devs have been very vocal about being "anti-rust" (I guess more anti-hype, where Rust was the hype). I don't know if it's a good fit. Not because they're writing a browser engine in Rust (good), but because Ladybird praises CPP/Swift currently and have no idea what the contributor's…

I am somewhat concerned about the volatility. All three languages have their merits and each has a stable foundation that has been developed and established over many years. The fact that the programming language has been “changed” within a short period of time, or rather that the direction has been altered, does not inspire confidence in the overall continuity of Ladybird's design decisions.
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