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Open-source Zig book

zigbook.net

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Re: Open-source Zig book

#331

Post by CraftingLinks »

rudedogg wrote: post #281

I submitted this and unfortunately it is likely AI generated. The authors github history suggests it at the very least, along with seemingly misunderstanding a reference to a Zig language feature (labeled blocks - https://zig.guide/language-basics/labelled-blocks/ ) in the project issues ( https://github.com/zigbook/zigbook/issues/4 ). I’m not sure how much value is to be had here, and it’s unfortunate the author was…

I looked into that project issue your referencing. There is absolutely zero mentioning of zig labeled blocks in that exchange. There is no misunderstanding or confusion whatsoever.

Re: Open-source Zig book

#332

Post by pron »

obviouslynotme wrote: post #210
poly2it wrote: post #195

> Learning Zig is not just about adding a language to your resume. It is about fundamentally changing how you think about software. I'm not sure what they expect, but to me Zig looks very much like C with a modern standard lib and slightly different syntax. This isn't groundbreaking, not a thought paradigm which should be that novel to most system engineers like for example OCaml could be. Stuff like this alienates p…

There is nothing new under the Sun. However, some languages manifest as good rewrites of older languages. Rust is that for C++. Zig is that for C. Rust is the small, beautiful language hiding inside of Modern C++. Ownership isn't new. It's the core tenet of RAII. Rust just pulls it out of the backwards-compatible kitchen sink and builds it into the type system. Rust is worth learning just so that you can fully experi…

I think that describing Zig as a "rewrite of C" (good or otherwise) is as helpful as describing Python as a rewrite of Fortran. Zig does share some things with C - the language is simple and values explicitness - but at its core is one of the most sophisticated (and novel) programming primitives we've ever seen: A general and flexible partial evaluation engine with access to reflection. That makes the similarities to C rather superficial. After all, Zig is as expressive as C++.

> Most importantly, it dodges Rust and C++'s biggest mistake, not passing allocators into containers and functions

I think that is just a symptom of a broader mistake made by C++ and shared by Rust, which is a belief (that was, perhaps, reasonable in the eighties) that we could and should have a language that's good for both low-level and high-level programming, and that resulted in compromises that disappoint both goals.

Re: Open-source Zig book

#333

Post by spacechild1 »

ropable wrote: post #192
eibrahim wrote: post #99

So many comments about the AI generation part. Why does it matter? If it’s good and accurate and helpful why do you care? That’s like saying you used a calculator to calculate your equations so I can’t trust you. I am just impressed by the quality and details and approach of it all. Nicely done (PS: I know nothing about systems programming and I have been writing code for 25 years)

An awful lot of commenters are convinced that it's AI-generated, despite explicit statements to the contrary. Maybe they're wrong, maybe they're right, but none of them currently have any proof stronger than vibes. It's like everyone has gaslit themselves into thinking that humans can't write well-structured neutral-tone docs any more.

This is not written in a neutral-tone at all! There is a lot of bland marketing speech that feels completely out of place. This is not how you write good technical literature.

Re: Open-source Zig book

#334

Post by xeonmc »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #309
rudedogg wrote: post #281

I submitted this and unfortunately it is likely AI generated. The authors github history suggests it at the very least, along with seemingly misunderstanding a reference to a Zig language feature (labeled blocks - https://zig.guide/language-basics/labelled-blocks/ ) in the project issues ( https://github.com/zigbook/zigbook/issues/4 ). I’m not sure how much value is to be had here, and it’s unfortunate the author was…

I'd love it if we can stop the "Oh, this might be AI, so it's probably crap" thing that has taken over HN recently. 1. There is no evidence this is AI generated. The author claims it wasn't, and on the specific issue you cite, he explains why he's struggling with understanding it, even if the answer is "obvious" to most people here. 2. Even if it were AI generated, that does not automatically make it worthless. In fa…

    That didn't happen.
    And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
    And if it was, that's not a big deal.
    And if it is, that's not my fault.
    And if it was, I didn't mean it.
    And if I did, you deserved it.

Re: Open-source Zig book

#335

Post by pjmlp »

brabel wrote: post #321
pjmlp wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cyclone for one, which AT&T created exactly to replace C.

Yeah but is that a practical language people can use instead of C and Rust? I’ve always heard of it only as a research language that inspired rust but nothing else.

Outside AT&T until they ramped down the project, I guess not, Rust also took its time to actually take off beyond Mozilla, and is around because it was rescued by big tech (Amazon, Google, Microsoft,...) hiring most of the core team after Mozilla's layoffs.

Re: Open-source Zig book

#336

Post by qouteall »

rudedogg wrote: post #281

I submitted this and unfortunately it is likely AI generated. The authors github history suggests it at the very least, along with seemingly misunderstanding a reference to a Zig language feature (labeled blocks - https://zig.guide/language-basics/labelled-blocks/ ) in the project issues ( https://github.com/zigbook/zigbook/issues/4 ). I’m not sure how much value is to be had here, and it’s unfortunate the author was…

AI is really great at creating superficial signals. And most people just judge things by superficial signal.

Re: Open-source Zig book

#337

Post by wkjagt »

johnfn wrote: post #148
eibrahim wrote: post #99

So many comments about the AI generation part. Why does it matter? If it’s good and accurate and helpful why do you care? That’s like saying you used a calculator to calculate your equations so I can’t trust you. I am just impressed by the quality and details and approach of it all. Nicely done (PS: I know nothing about systems programming and I have been writing code for 25 years)

Because site site explicitly says: > The Zigbook intentionally contains no AI-generated content—it is hand-written, carefully curated, and continuously updated to reflect the latest language features and best practices. If the site would have said something like "We use AI to clean up our prose, but it was all audited thoroughly by a human after", I wouldn't have an issue. Even better if they shared their prompts.

Exactly. Hard to trust the contents of a book that starts with a lie.

Re: Open-source Zig book

#338

Post by wkjagt »

atwrk wrote: post #253

> Learning Zig is not just about adding a language to your resume. It is about fundamentally changing how you think about software. Written by ChatGPT?

> You came for syntax. You'll leave with a philosophy.

Re: Open-source Zig book

#339

Post by ViewTrick1002 »

sgt wrote: post #257
kibwen wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if other languages that address one of the main rust claims without all the cruft But regardless of how much one likes Zig, it addresses none of the problems that Rust seeks to solve. It's not a replacement for Rust at all, and isn't suitable for any of the domains where Rust excels.

> and isn't suitable for any of the domains where Rust excels. That's a pretty bold claim since Zig is specifically designed for systems programming, low level stuff, network services, databases (think Tigerbeetle). It's not memory safe like Rust is, but it comes with constructs that make it simple to build largely memory safe programs.

Given the density of memory issues in the Bun issue tracker I have a hard time squaring the statement that Zig makes it "easy" to build memory safe programs.

https://github.com/oven-sh/bun/issues?q=segfault%20OR%20segm...

Re: Open-source Zig book

#340

Post by nsagent »

rudedogg wrote: post #281

I submitted this and unfortunately it is likely AI generated. The authors github history suggests it at the very least, along with seemingly misunderstanding a reference to a Zig language feature (labeled blocks - https://zig.guide/language-basics/labelled-blocks/ ) in the project issues ( https://github.com/zigbook/zigbook/issues/4 ). I’m not sure how much value is to be had here, and it’s unfortunate the author was…

I literally just came across this resource a couple of days ago and was going to go through it this week as a way to get up to speed on Zig. Glad this popped up on HN so I can avoid the AI hallucinations steering me off track.
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