5 points vodou | 1 comments | 15 Jul 25 18:54 UTC | HN request time: 0.224s
| source I know, I know... There are countless "it depends" baked into this question. But let’s try anyway.
After reading HN for years, I have encountered so many opinions regarding standard libraries in various programming languages, e.g., how they should be designed, what they should (and should not) include, etc.
The C standard library is very minimal, focusing mostly on low-level facilities. Everyone is expected to implement their own dynamic arrays or choose one implementation from a zillion available libraries. And, apparently, null-terminated strings are the work of the devil. C++ has a much more extensive standard library, built around generic programming techniques using containers, iterators, and algorithms applied in a composable way. It is rather elegant and powerful, but not very intuitive for beginners. It also has some notable omissions compared to more modern languages. Python comes with "batteries included" in the form of a very rich standard library. However, the PSF tends to "break user space" from time to time by deprecating older modules, such as “boring” technologies like CGI or modules with known security problems. (I am not comfortable enough to say anything about JS, Go, Rust, etc.)
So, what would a great standard library look like? What would make you happy? What have we learned about this after 50+ years of computing? Do you want everything from linked lists to red-black trees (and beyond)? Graphics and sound? (Even if no single API can please everyone.) XML? YAML? SIMD abstractions? Where do you even stop without causing anger? Where do you begin?
(No, I am not creating a new programming language. Enough is enough.)