alt Hacker NewsWhy did Ladybird even attempt this with Swift, but (I presume) not with Rust? If they're going to go to the trouble of adding another language, does Rust not have a better history of C++ interop? Not to mention, Swift's GC doesn't seem great for the browser's performance.
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> Why did Ladybird even attempt this with Swift, but (I presume) not with Rust? I
Probably the same reason why Rust is problematic in game development. The borrow checker and idiomatic Rust do not go well together with things that demand cyclic dependencies/references. Obviously there are ways around it but they're not very ergonomic/productive.
Andreas Kling said Rust lacks OO, which he says is useful for GUI coding.
He even made an attempt at creating his own language, Jakt, under SerenityOS, but perhaps felt that C++ (earlier with, now without Swift) were the pragmatic choice for Ladybird.
Swift actually has excellent C++ interop [1] (compared to other languages, but, I guess, not good enough for Ladybird).
It will be interesting to see any further justification; I believe Rust was rejected previously because of the DOM hierarchy/OOP but not sure IIRC.
20240810 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41208836 Ladybird browser to start using Swift language this fall
I so wholeheartedly agree. You are making a new web browser - akin to a new OS - and you want it open source for everybody but you choose swift not rust?
The ladybird developers tried Rust and Swift both and voted to adopt Swift.
Also I believe one of the core LadyBird devs was an ex Apple employee on WebKit which has been using Swift as well.
https://x.com/awesomekling/status/1822236888188498031 https://x.com/awesomekling/status/1822239138038382684 "In the end it came down to Swift vs Rust, and Swift is strictly better in OO support and C++ interop."