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Carbon Language: An experimental successor to C++

(docs.carbon-lang.dev)
155 points samuell | 1 comments | 31 Jul 25 14:23 UTC | HN request time: 0.974s | source
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JonChesterfield ◴[31 Jul 25 23:57 UTC] No.44751587[source]▶
One could presumably compile arbitrary C++ to rust or D without changing semantics, then slowly go through the result making it look more native to the new language.

That would either be a wholesale conversion or emitting a translation shim style thing at the boundary between legacy c++ and the new language.

I'm not sure Carbon is necessary to achieve such a conversion.

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zem ◴[01 Aug 25 00:35 UTC] No.44751803[source]▶
I would be stunned if you could compile arbitrary c++ to rust or d, unless by "compile" you mean "painfully hand-translate and spend months fixing subtle errors". you are underestimating the sheer complexity of the language.
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1. troad ◴[01 Aug 25 03:54 UTC] No.44752875[source]▶
Agreed, but it would be much worse than you suggest. Many meaty C++ projects have an underlying architecture that could not even be expressed in (safe) Rust. The idea of transpiling a major C++ project and getting it running in Rust with only some minimal idiom fiddling seems utterly fantastical.