Rust certainly doesn't make it impossible to write bad code. What it does do is ...

irishcoffee · 2025-12-15T15:15:27 1765811727

Rust is just a tool. It’s as fallible as any other tool. I wish we took it off the pedestal and treated it as such.

steveklabnik · 2025-12-15T15:34:15 1765812855

Are all tools equal in all dimensions or can they be compared for fitness of purpose?

estebank · 2025-12-15T15:41:50 1765813310

A hand saw, a table saw and a SawStop are all tools, but they have different characteristics even though they all are meant to cut the same wood.

irishcoffee · 2025-12-15T15:54:09 1765814049

Ada, C, and lisp are all tools, but they have different characteristics even though they are all meant to cut through the same problems.

yuriks · 2025-12-15T16:09:22 1765814962

...yes?

irishcoffee · 2025-12-15T16:29:50 1765816190

A tool is a tool. I didn’t realize I needed to spell it out.

Cloudflare used a tool, broke parts of the internet.

bigstrat2003 · 2025-12-15T16:47:04 1765817224

I feel like you're attacking a strawman here. Of course you can write unreliable software in Rust. I'm not aware of anyone who says you can't. The point is not that it's a magic talisman that makes your software good, the point is that it helps you to make your software good in ways other languages (in particular C/C++ which are the primary point of comparison for Rust) do not. That's all.

irishcoffee · 2025-12-15T22:08:20 1765836500

> The point is not that it's a magic talisman that makes your software good, the point is that it helps you to make your software good in ways other languages (in particular C/C++ which are the primary point of comparison for Rust) do not.

Citation needed.