news.volyx.in

Rust is tier-1 language at Microsoft (rustfoundation.org)

726 points by mmastrac · 31 days ago · 518 comments on HN

Article summary

Microsoft has announced that Rust is now a Tier-1 language at the company, joining C++, C#, and TypeScript as one of the best-supported languages for internal development. This means that internal teams will have a paved path from local development to production, including secure toolchain builds, productive developer tooling, and deep platform integration. The company has also introduced rustc_codegen_utc, an alternative code generation backend for rustc that connects to the MSVC backend, allowing for seamless interoperability between Rust and C++ on Windows. This move is part of Microsoft's effort to support Rust as a systems programming language for greenfield development.

Main themes

  • Rust as a Tier-1 language
  • Interoperability with C++
  • Debugging support
  • Web development with Rust
  • Performance and memory safety
  • Language choice and trade-offs
  • Developer tools and workflows

What commenters say

  • Some commenters believe that Rust needs better debugging support in Visual Studio to be considered a true Tier-1 language.
  • Others argue that VS Code already provides excellent debugging support for Rust, making further investment in Visual Studio unnecessary.
  • There is a debate about the suitability of Rust for web development, with some arguing that it is a good choice due to its type system and error handling, while others prefer languages like Go or Java.
  • A few commenters mention that Rust's compile times can be a downside, but others argue that the benefits of using Rust, such as improved performance and memory safety, outweigh this cost.
  • Some developers share their positive experiences with using Rust in production, citing improved latency and memory usage compared to other languages.
  • Others discuss the challenges of interoperability between Rust and C++, and the need for better tools and frameworks to support this.
  • A few commenters joke about the perceived decline of debugging skills among modern programmers, with some arguing that debuggers are still essential tools for certain types of development.
  • There is also a discussion about the trade-offs between using Rust and other languages, such as C++ or Python, for different types of applications and use cases.