Thoughts on replacement languages (Reddit + D)

[via Digitalmars-d]

On Sunday, 11 January 2015 at 14:10:56 UTC, ponce wrote:
> The problem with Rust and Go is that they only deliver in 
> theory, while D kicks some asses in practice. How?
>
> Eg: at this very moment, D is more stable than Rust, ground 
> truth.

I think Rust will hit non-breaking stability (or close to it) 
because they need it for Servo. What I dislike is that they plan 
on having a "train-schedule" where they release every 6 weeks 
because "that model works for browsers". IMO it does not work for 
browsers. Last week I fixed two browser related bugs, introduced 
recently by both IE and Chrome. What I want from a programming 
tool is a stable release that lasts for years, not weeks. Python 
is at 3.5, yet most people are using Python 2.7, for a reason... 
In some sense, I think Rust is in a self-indulgent bubble...

On the other hand, Rust has somewhat better semantics than D and 
a working memory model, for those features that Rust do have. 
Yet, the syntax is... too alien for most C++ programmers IMO.

Maybe we should do a comparison thread between D and Rust. It 
might be interesting, and perhaps encourage some improvements to 
D.

> Go is actively behind the times by preventing shared libraries 
> and discouraging exceptions, let alone generics. None of the 
> C++ programmers I know give Go any credit, cause it would make 
> their work more difficult, and it's already pretty difficult.

Isn't static linking good enough for servers? When using Go with 
app engine the code is compiled by Google, seems to be a good 
model if the language is transparently portable. Go is not a 
system programming language.

> next month. But for some reason everything they say has a ring 
> of truth, because it's Mozilla they only do Good Things right?

No, but you gotta admit that it is an advantage that Mozilla 
needs the tool for doing real work. So if they make mistakes, 
they will suffer from it too.

If D was funded for doing real work, then the memory model issues 
would have been addressed a long time ago.

> They will come to the same model as D, minimizing code breakage 
> but do it anyway, because it's way more practical.

Maybe, but Go has actually done a good job out of it. C was also 
quite minimal (like Rust), so they might do ok with stability if 
they make it a "principle".

> And as soon as Servo is interrupted because of internal 
> politics at Mozilla or rebudgeting (ie. very high probability), 
> Rust will be halted in a heartbeat since loosing its purpose. 
> Ever noticed the Rust original designer jumped off ship long 
> ago?

I didn't know that, but I've noticed with some unease that Chrome 
is growing towards "monopoly" (except in Germany where Firefox is 
big).

> That won't happen with D, whatever the ratio of github projects 
> in the fashion industry.

Yes, but D depends too much on a single person. Rust and Go does 
not.