Other platforms don't have a leader that hates C++, and then accepts a language that is also quite complex, even has two macro systems of Lisp like wizardy, see Serde.
OSes have been being written with C++ on the kernel, since the late 1990's, and AI is being powered by hardware (CUDA) that was designed specifically to accomodate C++ memory model.
Also Rust compiler depends on a compiler framework written in C++, without it there is no Rust compiler, and apparently they are in no hurry to bootstrap it.
C++ devs don’t care what the Linux kernel’s written in.
But I did see an interesting comment from another user here which also reflects my feelings: Rust is pushed aggressively with different pressure tactics. Another comment pointed out that Rust is not about Rust programmers writing more Rust, but “Just like a religion it is about what other people should do.”.
I’ve been reading about this Rust-in-the-kernel topic since the beginning, without getting involved. One thing that struck me is the obvious militant approach of the rustafarians, criticizing existing maintainers (particularly Ts’o and other objectors), implying they’re preventing progress or out of touch.
The story feels more like a hostile takeover attempt than technology.
I also think that many C or C++ programmers don’t bother posting in this topics, so they’re at least partially echo chambers.
That's how it feels to me. There are crucial issues, namely that there is no spec and there is only one implementation. I don't know why Linus is ok with this. I'd be fine with it if those issues were resolved, but they aren't.
> There are crucial issues, namely that there is no spec and there is only one implementation. I don't know why Linus is ok with this.
I can try to provide a (weak) steelman argument:
Strictly speaking, neither the lack of a spec nor a single implementation have been blockers for Linux's use of stuff, either now or in the past. Non-standard GCC extensions and flags aren't exactly rare in the kernel, and Linus has been perfectly fine with the single non-standard implementation of those. Linus has also stated in the past (paraphrasing) that what works in practice is more important than what standards dictate [0]. Perhaps Linus feels that what Rust does in practice is good enough, especially given its (currently) limited role in the kernel.
Granted, not having a spec for individual flags/features is not equivalent to not having a spec for the language, so it's not the strongest argument as I said. I do think there's a point nestled in there though - perhaps what happens on the ground is the most important factor. It probably helps that there is work being done on both the spec and multiple implementation fronts.
Yeah they’re all just tools. From a technical perspective, rust, C and C++ work together pretty well. Swift too. LLVM LTO can even do cross language inlining.
I don’t think C++ is going anywhere any time soon. Not with it powering all the large game engines, llvm, 30 million lines of google chrome and so on. It’s an absolute workhorse.
