Cargo Cult#

I briefly tackled this topic when I wrote this:

Linux vs GNU/Linux PART 2

Let's recap some good references from there:

Rust-lang#

For the record I don't hate on rust but I also don't think that it is be-all and end-all kind of language (unless it will keep evolving with breaking changes).

When I first started hearing about it then I thought to myself that it is truly unique.

Often times when there is some new fancy programming language which becomes the new latest fad then there is some gimmick to it or some syntax sugar but it usually just turns out as something what LISP had already in 1960s... or what was written in 1970s (Hoare's CSP paper) in the case of golang.

(Funny as it turned out that rust was also just dusting off old papers and features of decades old forgotten languages...)

Nevertheless - rust's borrow-checker was novel and neat feature.

Rust's author, Graydon Hoare, borrowed (hehe) from older languages and humbly stated that nothing new was in this new language.

I like many his ideas and goals but perhaps those could be done better?

As he said himself (archived version):

The Rust We Got is many, many miles away from The Rust I Wanted

I would not mind to put rust-lang under my tool belt but the ugly syntax, the exhausting fight with the compiler and the attitude of their believers keep pushing it down the list for me.

Cult of Rust#

The issue is the community...

  1. They are (likely) furries (more proof below)
  2. Their toxic evangelism
  3. The trope of rewriting everything in rust
  4. Their infestation upon established projects as a PR stun

There are many passionate programming communities but none behaves like this cult.

Rust Programmer is (probably) a Furry...#

Do you recall the linked list as one of the basic memory data structure?

Well, in rust you need a whole book on the topic:

Too Many Lists

Do you know who wrote that book?

A furry...

Case closed.

Furry Invasion#

Invasion of Furries

You can watch this funny series on youtube:

Furries are invading Linux spaces - the biggest open-source codebase on the planet - critical for the whole world.

No one would care if they would want to create brand new rusted operating system (which they tried: redox).

But making usable, functional, full-fledged operating system is too much work and still world would not care and therefore no glory, no PR in that...

But hijacking the most important operating system on the planet... that is a fat juicy target...

You must ask why?

Furries have extreme need to rewrite even things which are deemed as the best pieces of software ever written:

Do you recall heartbleed?

If someone said: Let's rewrite messy OpenSSL in rust!

Then I would have nothing to say...

There was a real need to do something and so it happened: LibreSSL

Gents from OpenBSD forked the OpenSSL and cleaned it up and it is still in C!

On the other hand: rewriting solid project just for sake of rewriting it in rust... is a mental disease...

Lessons from the past: Things You Should Never Do

If something is not written in rust then it is NOT inherently bad, ugly, wrong or evil...