winter  
stop

writing

code

in

rust
1
winter  
the rust compiler is a fucking joke and nigh on impossible to bootstrap (because the idiots made it self-hosting instead of doing the responsible thing and writing it in C++), especially on non x86 systems.

like, look at this shit https://guix.gnu.org/blog/2018/bootstrapping-rust/
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1+
"Slide" Brombek  

@velartrill
They use C++ impl to bootstrap it: github.com/thepowersgang/mrust Rust needs more impls like other langs have. Writing "reference" impl in not itself would be hypocrisy 😃

1
winter  
@brombek > Writing "reference" impl in not itself would be hypocrisy

self-hosting a language has no upsides and many, many grave downsides. there is no good reason to do it, ever, period
1
"Slide" Brombek  

@velartrill
Why are most languages self hosted then? C compilers are also self hosted. What are the downsides apart from secure bootstrapping needing another impl?

1+
"Slide" Brombek
Follow

@velartrill
"Many programming languages have self-hosted implementations: compilers that are both in and for the same language. Such languages include Ada, BASIC, C, C++[5], C#[6], ClojureScript[7], CoffeeScript, Crystal, D, Dylan, F#, FASM, Forth, Gambas, Go, Haskell, HolyC, Java, Lisp, Modula-2, OCaml, Oberon, Pascal, Python, Rust, Scala, Smalltalk, TypeScript, Vala, and Visual Basic."

· · Fedilab · 2 · 0 · 0
"Slide" Brombek  

@velartrill
"In some of these cases, the initial implementation was not self-hosted, but rather, written in another language (or even in machine language); in other cases, the initial implementation was developed using bootstrapping."

1
"Slide" Brombek  

So Rust compiler was originally written in ML and later self-hosted. This is no different than many other mainstream languages. So why picking at Rust in particular?

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winter  
@brombek the proper thing to do is maintain a bootstrap chain: write a hex assembler in machine code, write a stage-1 assembler in hex, a stage-2 assembler in stage-1 assembly, a macro processor in stage-2 assembly, and progressively more advanced languages on top of that toolchain. a language should always be implemented in a language that is less complex and closer to the metal. breaking this rule is thoughtless, self-destructive profligacy par excellence. at the absolute least, if you're completely dead set on self-hosting, write a transpiler instead of a compiler and include the generated sources along with its release tarballs, like Chicken Scheme does.
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