[Info-vax] Rust as a HS language, was: Re: Quiet?

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 4/4/2022 8:28 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2022-04-03, plugh <jchimene at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Perhaps this will stimulate a discussion
>>
>> https://highassurance.rs
> 
> There are 3 things that switch me off from considering Rust as a HA language.
> These 3 things are more important than any specific advantages that Rust
> might have over other programming languages.
> 
> 1) The syntax. It's horrible and imposes a higher cognitive load than
> it needs to when you are looking at something new or revisiting old code.
> That means you are more likely to miss something or work a lot harder
> than you need to in order to understand the code.
> 
> One of the official Ada RMs/Style Guides/etc had it right when it pointed
> out that you write the code once but read it many times. The Rust people
> have forgotten this.

Rust does not look anything like C/C++ or Pascal/Modula-2/Ada.

But it looks somewhat similar to newer languages like Kotlin and Swift.

It seems reasonable to believe that it can be read.

> 2) No official ISO or similar language standard I can rely on 5/10/20 years
> from now when I need to work on my safety or general production critical
> code at that point.
> 
> Even though many of the Rust people appear not to understand this, the
> lack of those guarantees is a _massive_ problem in the real world.

Not really. Lot of popular languages are not formally standardized.
Python and PHP are not standardized. C# is/was standardized but the
standard is 6 versions behind. It took 13 years before C++ got
standardized.

If there is a desire for ISO Rust then it could happen. The likelihood
of it happening will increase if different implementations show up.

> 3) Unlike mainstream programming languages, the Rust community always
> seems to be lurching from one social drama to the next.
> 
> That in itself is an instant switchoff because the community is one
> major social crisis away from falling apart (at least until it's then
> rebuilt and a new direction emerges).
> 
> You can't rely on a programming language when something like that is
> a real possibility. You wouldn't see social crisis stuff on the C/C++/Ada
> language standards groups for example.

I don't think the number of heated discussions in the rust community
is unique. They may be a bit more transparent about it than most. And
the "internet tabloid press" loves that type of stuff. But has anything
actually been significant delayed due to it?

Arne