Speculative: Rust for base system components

[drosih]

On 2019-01-01 11:00, Igor Mozolevsky wrote:
> On Tue, 1 Jan 2019 at 15:54, Eric McCorkle wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> 
> > I don't think that's a fair comparison at all.  Rust is a systems
> > language built around zero-cost abstractions that is usable for
> > developing real embedded code
> 
> <snip>
> 
> Brian's simple experiment [1] demonstrates that "zero-cost" is
> more of an aspiration (and a very long term one, perhaps) than
> a hard fact ;-)

Brian's simple experiment is a simple experiment.  It's interesting,
but hardly the definitive word in evaluating a language.  We need
more real-world experience with serious programs before dismissing
rust.  But at the same time, we need much more real-world experience
with writing rust before we can consider bringing it into the base
system.  We can't bring it into the base system and then hope that
"magic happens" because it's sitting there.

I thought the 'ripgrep' program seemed like an interesting one
to look at.  Compare how fast it works to how fast our grep works.
(I have not done that comparison!  I just take advantage of the
extra features that 'ripgrep' has.)  And 'ripgrep' works fine as
a port.  It does not need to be in the base system.  It's just an
example to look at, for those who might be interested in rust.

Maybe other people know of other real-world useful programs which
are written in rust, and which might be interesting to look at.

So consider me a cheerleader for "Let's get some more experience!".
(not that all of us can do that, but at least *some* of us!)

     -- garance alistair drosehn  aka gad at FreeBSD.org
     -- senior systems programmer @rpi