Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 15 submissions in the queue.

Which Language has Brightest Future in Replacing C — D, Go, or Rust — and Why?

posted by martyb on Friday November 13 2015, @10:24AM   Printer-friendly
from the Obfuscated-Rust-Competition-doesn't-sound-right dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

In spite of my status and obvious bias as co-creator of D, I'll do my best to answer candidly; I follow Go and Rust, and I also definitely know where D's dirty laundry is. I'd encourage people with similar positions in the Rust and Go communities to share their honest opinion as well. So here goes.

First off, C++ needs to be somewhere in the question. Whether it's to be replaced alongside C, or be one of the candidates that's supposed to replace C, the C++ language is a key part of the equation. It's the closest language to C and the obvious step up from it. Given C++'s age, I'll assume in the following that the question also puts C++ alongside with C as a target for replacement.

Each language has a number of fundamental advantages (I call them "10x advantages" because they are qualitatively in a different league compared to at least certain baselines) and a number of challenges. The future of these languages, and their success in supplanting C, depends on how they can use their 10x advantages strategically, and how they overcome their challenges.

[Another way to look at this is to ask "What is wrong with C?" and then assess how well these languages solve those problems. -Ed.]

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Which Language has Brightest Future in Replacing C — D, Go, or Rust — and Why? | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 82 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 13 2015, @06:10PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 13 2015, @06:10PM (#262780)

    Lousy string handling syntax and the silly outmoded "break" convention in the switch statement. I also prefer the type name come after the variable, in declarations, not before.

  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday November 13 2015, @08:03PM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday November 13 2015, @08:03PM (#262808) Journal

    Those are criticisms which are valid when applied to C++, but invalid for C. C is intended to be used in limited environments, or when your code needs to act in a precise way.

    I've got several criticisms of the syntax of C when used in a context where C++ is a more appropriate choice. Unfortunately, most of them also apply to C++.

    --
    Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 14 2015, @04:43AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 14 2015, @04:43AM (#263059)

    the silly outmoded "break"

    So you don't have a substantive problem, just stupid fashion issues with C? Fucking hipster.