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Zig is hard but worth it

(ratfactor.com)
401 points signa11 | 2 comments | 01 Jun 23 10:44 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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rayiner ◴[01 Jun 23 13:44 UTC] No.36150933[source]▶
Alternative languages are cool, but I struggle to see the point of a systems programming language that doesn't offer static memory safety in 2023. Rust isn't necessarily the best and final answer--it seems like there is a broad design space to explore for memory-safe systems programming languages. But Zig seems to occupy the same local maximum as C--a relatively simple, non-safe systems language--and doesn't have a killer feature that justifies not just using C.
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krupan ◴[01 Jun 23 18:12 UTC] No.36155063[source]▶
Honest question here (that I have every time I see someone talk about memory safety in 2023), are you aware of Ada/Spark?
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1. Gigachad ◴[02 Jun 23 03:45 UTC] No.36160731[source]▶
If Ada and Spark solve problems as well or better than Rust and have been around for longer, why have I never seen any program written in them?

I don’t know anything about ada/spark but it seems clear that something has gone terribly wrong for them to not have taken off like Rust has.

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2. krupan ◴[04 Jun 23 04:17 UTC] No.36183051[source]▶
That doesn't answer my question.

To attempt to answer your question, you might be surprised to learn just how much Ada/spark exists in the world if you go looking. Most of it is not open source. I'm not sure they haven't "taken off like Rust has" because Rust is still very niche, kinda like Ada is