
Ask HN: Will Rust be as popular as Go or C++? - lostPoncho
Will Rust continue to remain as a niche language that sometimes people choose as an alternative for C++ or Go, or will it see a rise in adaption soon?
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twobyfour
I don't see why it wouldn't become as popular as Go, which is still a pretty
niche language despite the Silicon Valley and HN hype.

C++ is an entire other beast. Asking whether a language will be as popular as
"Go or C++" is like asking whether it'll be as popular as "Julia or Java".

C++ is one of the top 5, maybe one of the top 2 languages that existing
software is built in. For about 15 (maybe even 20) years before Java matured,
and then another 5-10 before C# became the default for new Windows projects,
it was by leaps and bounds the most common language for building desktop and
enterprise software. There are still billions of lines of C++ code in
production and being maintained, possibly trillions. Not to mention new
projects still being begun using it.

FWIW, I personally think Rust has a better chance of becoming the next C++
than Go does, but who can really predict the future anyway?

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jstewartmobile
I sincerely hope not. The last thing we need is another down-in-the-weeds
language for bit twiddling.

Moore's law is practically dead now, so most of the newer CPU-bound algorithms
start off using GPUs (where you're stuck with GLSL), then move on to custom
chips (like Google's tensor units for ML, or Bitmain's ASICs for bitcoin
mining).

If we're headed back to the mainframe architecture of putting the inner-loop
stuff in hardware, then this is a wonderful time to start doing more with
higher-level languages.

Even as things stand, Java and some Lisps are as fast a C for many
applications, and they take care of the memory issues just as well as Rust
does, but without the effort or cognitive overhead that Rust requires.

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geezerjay
> The last thing we need is another down-in-the-weeds language for bit
> twiddling.

I disagree. Currently, the best programming language for "bit twiddling" is C,
and throughout the years C has essentially remained the same language that was
developed four decades ago. In spite of C remaining one of the most popular
programming languages in history, the language could be improved.

Graydon Hoare and the good people at Mozilla Research have decided to put in
the legwork themselves and pick up the slack. They managed to do a commendable
job, and the quality of their work is being increasingly recognized. The
reason is quite clear: the whole world was eagerly looking for "another down-
in-the-weeds language for bit twiddling" that helped circumvent the lack of
progress imposed on the C programming language. Rust does just that and more.

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PaulHoule
I would like to be a believer in a "C replacement" which is safer, but I see
people struggling to do simple things in Rust and am skeptical.

~~~
oconnor663
Definitely true. The "angel's advocate" way of putting it is that C lets you
write code relatively quickly that _appears_ to work but is actually undefined
behavior in subtle cases that are difficult to test. Though for someone
learning the language and mostly coding small examples, "correct in all cases"
might not matter very much, and it can feel super frustrating.

