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

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 4/7/2022 12:19 PM, chris wrote:
> On 04/07/22 15:44, Dan Cross wrote:
>>> I wasn't suggesting that, but it takes years for all the issues
>>> to be resolved and a language to become mature. That and the
>>> language tends to be more fully documented formally. Sure, there
>>> are always issues, but C has been around for long enough now that
>>> most skilled users are to grips with the limitations and know
>>> which potentially dangerous edge cases to avoid...
>>
>> That's demonstrably not true.  C has become a tricky language,
>> one where most people who claim to be "skilled C programmers"
>> and who "know which potentially dangerous edge cases to avoid"
>> are either compiler writers, or deluding themselves.
>>
>> PS: Rust will be 12 years old this year, but dates back to 2006.
> 
> Sorry, but that's absolute tripe. With minor effort, can still
> build C code I wrote as far back as 1990, so it's about as
> standard plain vanilla as any language could be.

C language is pretty well standardized

The standard C library is very small, but that is just a choice.

> The basic idea of a language as close as possible to the bare
> metal, yet with enough capability for serious high level work,
> with layered design, is as close to an ideal language as
> anyone could wish for. Tricky language indeed ?, rofl...

C is a tricky language.

It is an observable fact that buffer overruns and
memory leaks flourish in C programs and would not
happen in many other languages.

It is an observable fact that many likely most C
programs only work as intended with some compilers/platforms
combination, but are not guaranteed to work on any
compliant C compiler due to all the undefined behavior
and implementation specific behavior in the C standard.

Arne