alt Hacker NewsIf you already have substantial experience with C++, this could be a good option. But I'd say nowadays that learning to use Rust *well* is much easier than learning to use C++ *well*. And the ecosystem, even if it's a lot less mature, I'd say is already better in Rust for these use-cases.
Indeed, here security (generally safety) is a secondary concern and is not the main reason for choosing Rust, although welcome. It's just that Rust has everything that C++ gives you, but in a more modern and ergonomic package. Although, again, I can see how someone already steeped in C/C++ for years might not feel that, and reasonably so. But I think I can farely safely say that Rust is just "a better C++" from the perspective of someone starting from scratch now.
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> But I'd say nowadays that learning to use Rust well is much easier than learning to use C++ well.
For someone(me) who was making a choice recently, it is not that obvious. I tried to learn through rust examples and ecosystems, and there are many more wtf moments compared to when I am writing C++ as C with classes + boost, especially when writing close to metal performance code, rust has many abstractions with unobvious performance implications.
Indeed.
Plus, one doesn't usually just 'learn C++'. It's a herculean effort and I've yet to meet anyone, even people exclusively using C++ for all their careers, that could confidently say they "know C++". They may be comfortable with whatever subset of C++ their company uses, while another company's codebase will look completely alien, often with entire features being ignored that they used, and vice versa.
Despite that, it's still a substantial time commitment, to the point that many (if not most) people working on C++ have made that their career; it's not just a tool anymore at that point. They may be more willing to jump entire industries rather than jump to another language. It is a generalization, but I have seen that far too often at this point.
If someone is making a significant time investment starting today, I too would suggest investing in Rust instead. It also requires a decent time investment, but the rewards are great. Instead of learning where all the (hidden) landmines are, you learn how to write code that can't have those landmines in the first place. You aren't losing much either, other than the ability to read existing C++ codebases.