this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2024
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Rust is great, but anybody developing something should have the ability to choose whatever programming language they prefer. If you want it made with rust, make it yourself.
Of course, but it still makes sense to think carefully about the advantages of disadvantages of the tools you use when starting any project.
I am not the one who said "epic fail".
Sorry, replied in the wrong comment level apparently.
Not everyone with the knowledge to identify this mistake is in a position to personally correct it. Do you have the time and resources to personally build a browser from scratch? No? Why do you assume a random commenter does?
It doesn't change the fact that Rust is similarly performant and much safer and will thus be faster to develop and less bug-prone. It's not a difficult assessment to make. If you want to explain why they're wrong you can talk about the issue on its merits, but you didn't choose to, presumably because you can't.
Their choice of programming language isn't a 'mistake'. It isn't something that is 'corrected'. It's a development choice, nothing more. That's the point. And if some 'random commenter' doesn't like that choice, that's their problem to fix - not the developers who are actually making the project.
You said they "should have the ability to choose whatever programming language they prefer". I have good news for you.
You have correctly identified that the developers are responsible for their own decisions. They are, you will be very relieved to hear, quite free to make as many poor decisions as they will. Nobody is going to force them to stop.
Other people are more than capable of identifying that those decisions are mistakes. Now, that could be argued with, you could explain how it's not a mistake.
But you haven't. You just said they should be allowed to do it, but nobody was arguing that they needed to be stopped, just that it was a bad decision.
Edit: this person didn't actually say that first quote, but the line of argument proceeded from there, and they did nothing to distance themselves from that point.
I just don’t think it’s fair to tell somebody with over 20 years of experience with C++ that their decision to use C++ in their next project is a ‘fail’.
Learning a new language will probably not be faster than using one you’re already deeply familiar with.
I’m not sure why you’re asking me about the merits of C++ over rust, that wasn’t my point. I was simply advocating for personal choice.
Also, my first sentence was literally praising rust, but I guess I didn’t deepthroat it enough for you to notice? Presumably because you’ve taken the thought of somebody advocating for anything other than rust as a personal attack.
Criticism doesn't take away personal choice though. I don't know why that's hard for people to grasp.
If were just a personal project that they're building entirely on their own then sure, go nuts and do whatever you want. But they're trying to gain adoption, asking for contribution, and wanting to replace other browsers. At that point it's no longer just a personal choice if you're asking the community to invest their time and money into it with you
It originally started as just a fun side project.
But even if it hadn’t, are you suggesting we should no longer start big/community projects in C++?
Picking an unsafe language has the added benefit of distancing yourself from the toxic rust-or-die crowd, who can’t seem to mind their own damn business.