Newsraft: feed reader with ncurses user interface

Ive been using Newsboat since before it was called Newsboat, when it was called Newsbeuter. Newsboat does have some oddities in its config and open issues that still havent been resolved (I suspect due to the rewrite) so this alternative does make me curious to try something thats a fresh start.

I also worked on an RSS feed reader that was supposed to work on both desktop, mobile and low-RAM embedded systems (> Newsboat's authors are rewriting it in Rust. They concluded (last time I checked) that C and some early design decisions were bad for its development now and they want to rewrite it in Rust because this is something that can be done gradually (and, I think, because they liked Rust). Before they settled down with Rust, they even considered Haskell, but Rust won.

There seems to be a common pattern that people believe "program that compiles to binary suffers from segfaults, therefore use Rust". Rust will not fix your poorly designed code, now it is harder to develop and runs slower. Your broken logic is still broken.

> Surprising that this project is in C. Given a chance to start fresh, why not choose a better language? Even Rust, I think, is unnecessarily low-level for an applied, not performance-critical program like an RSS reader. That's why I chose Haskell. Any other high-level programming language would be a better choice than C.

The code could do with some comments, but it's otherwise clean. It has been mostly worked on by Grigory Kirillov [1] and maybe this is a language they like [1]. Given the use of `func_name(void)` and `int64_t` it seems like somebody quite capable of writing C safely. With some regression testing this could be a fast and reliable program.

[1] https://codeberg.org/grisha

I really like this idea! Using email to synchronize RSS feeds is an awesome abuse of email!

> "It is a rewrite in Go of the wonderful, but unfortunately now unmaintained"

Is it still working? If not, I might need to read up on the IMAP protocol... Could be cool to hack such a thing together.

One feature I would suggest is to import an OPML file to help those (like me) with insane numbers of existing RSS feeds.

Not sure I'm getting your point. Somehow Rust forces you to have colorful terminal output? Rust is high overhead? You can't strive for simplicity and write in Rust?

Sure it's a bit silly to rewrite a nice simple tool for because it's the new fad. However if writing a new simple tool I'd certainly consider Rust.

How is Rust incompatible with aligning with the philosophy that encourages building simple yet functional things?

> Rust does everything that C does while making programmer more productive. Look at what Linux Kernel hackers say about it. They are the ones who know things about C.

Anybody can submit a patch to the Linux kernel (which is great of course). Any big names (long term kernel development) backing it?

That said, kernel development has different constraints to userspace application development. For kernel drivers for example, sometimes you really are pulling absolutely every trick out of the book just to squeeze enough performance out.

> Nobody said it will. But segfaults hardly come from poor design. They come from accidental mistakes, lack of static analysis, and gotchas that your language offers.

Sure, but there are a few simple patterns when used throughout that are quite reliable. There are quite a few books out there on writing safe and reliable C.

> > now it is harder to develop

> Only if you're a C programmer who doesn't know Rust.

Maybe, but I'm not yet sold that the added 'dance' you have to perform with Rust is worth excluding one type of bug.

> > and runs slower

> This is plan false. Please back it up.

Every C program can theoretically [+] be compiled to be the same as a Rust binary, but not every Rust program could be compiled to be the same as a C binary [1].

> Try using it for a week, and count for me how many times it segfaults on your face. (That is not to diminish Grigory's work, which I have nothing against.)

I use it quite regularly. Even more regularly I use C++, I simply program with it in the same way one would do using Java as pure OO and no raw pointer magic (except in rare, well tested cases). The less magic used, the more reusable your code will be in the future.

[+] Not exactly, but close enough.

[1] https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/...