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Eric S Raymond, author of "The Cathedral and the Bazaar", blogs via Ibiblio
I wanted to like Rust. I really did. I've been investigating it for months, from the outside, as a C replacement with stronger correctness guarantees that we could use for NTPsec [a hardened implementation of Network Time Protocol].
[...] I was evaluating it in contrast with Go, which I learned in order to evaluate as a C replacement a couple of weeks back.
[...] In practice, I found Rust painful to the point of unusability. The learning curve was far worse than I expected; it took me those four days of struggling with inadequate documentation to write 67 lines of wrapper code for [a simple IRC] server.
Even things that should be dirt-simple, like string concatenation, are unreasonably difficult. The language demands a huge amount of fussy, obscure ritual before you can get anything done.
The contrast with Go is extreme. By four days in of exploring Go, I had mastered most of the language, had a working program and tests, and was adding features to taste.
Have you tried using Rust, Go or any other language that might replace C in the future? What are your experiences?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by turgid on Monday January 16 2017, @10:16PM
The problem with C++ is that it keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger and...
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 16 2017, @10:51PM
Yeah, but the good subset keeps getting more and more and more well defined.
(Score: 2) by rleigh on Monday January 16 2017, @11:21PM
Why is this a problem? The subset of C++ you knew before the new standard comes out is just as valid afterward. If I use C++98, I can carry on using it indefinitely. My work projects made the switch to C++11 just last week, six years after it came out, and many projects will never switch. The new keywords are optional, but make the language vastly easier to use, likewise with the library features. I for one am not complaining; it's a long overdue improvement that actually makes the language easier and safer to use. Use the subset of the language and library that makes sense for your project, and ignore the rest.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @01:53AM
The problem is that C++ is an insanely complicated language and the 80/20 rule applies: 80% of C++ programmers know at most 20% of the language.
The real kicker is that no two programmers are likely to know the same 20%.
C++ appears to be designed under the assumption that extra features cannot cause any problems, only missing features can. But C++ features often have complex interdependencies that very often mean that you can't just avoid using them.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by cubancigar11 on Tuesday January 17 2017, @04:18AM
You are assuming everyone is working on their pet project. The biggest problem of C++ is that it is extremely difficult to market. Every project is working on a subset of language and every interviewer wants someone who knows exactly that subset.