7 ms·

True. I often think of Rust as a best-of compilation of Haskell and C++ (although I read somewhere that OCaml had a greater influence on it, but I don’t know th

by mmoll 2y ago

True. I often think of Rust as a best-of compilation of Haskell and C++ (although I read somewhere that OCaml had a greater influence on it, but I don’t know that language well enough) In real life, I find that Haskell suffers from trying too hard to use the most general concept that‘s applicable (no pun intended). Haskell programs happily use “Either Err Val” and “Left x” where other languages would use the more expressive but less general “Result Err Val” and “Error x”. Also, I don’t want to mentally parse nested liftM2s or learn the 5th effect system ;-)

hollerith 2y ago
>I read somewhere that OCaml had a greater influence on it Whoever wrote that is wrong.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- randomdata 2y ago
  If we could wave a magic wand and remove Haskell's influence on Rust, Rust would still exist in some kind of partial form. If we waved the same wand and removed OCaml's influence, Rust would no longer exist at all. You are the one who is wrong, I'm afraid.
  - lkitching 2y ago
    Which OCaml features exist in Rust but not Haskell? The trait system looks very similar to Haskell typeclasses, but I'm not aware of any novel OCaml influence on the language.
    - randomdata 2y ago
      > Which OCaml features exist in Rust but not Haskell? Rust's most important feature! The bootstrapped implementation.
      - lkitching 2y ago
        I'm not convinced the implementation language of the compiler counts as a feature of the Rust language. If the argument is that Rust wouldn't have been invented without the original author wanting a 'systems OCaml' then fine. But it's possible Rust would still look similar to how it does now in a counterfactual world where the original inspiration was Haskell rather than OCaml, but removing the Haskell influence from Rust as it is now would result in something quite different.
        randomdata 2y ago
        Rust isn't just a language, though. Additionally, unlike some languages that are formally specified before turning to implementation, Rust has subscribed to design-by-implementation. The implementation is the language.
        lkitching 2y ago
        That just means the semantics of the language are defined by whatever the default implementation does. It's a big stretch to conclude that means Rust 'was' OCaml in some sense when the compiler was written with it. Especially now the Rust compiler is written in Rust itself.
        randomdata 2y ago
        You're overthinking again. Read what is said, not what you want it to say in some fairytale land.
- TwentyPosts 2y ago
  The original rust compiler was written in OCaml. That's not evidence it "had an influence", but it's highly striking considering how many other languages Greydon could've used.
  - hollerith 2y ago
    Yes: if a person knows nothing else about Rust and the languages that might have influenced it, then the fact that the original Rust compiler was written in OCaml should make that person conclude tentatively that OCaml was the language that influenced the design of Rust the most. I'm not one to hold that one shouldn't form tentative conclusions until one "has all the fact". Also, I'm not one to hold that readers should trust the opinion of an internet comment writer they know nothing about. I could write a long explanation to support my opinion, but I'm probably not going to.
    - dimitrios1 2y ago
      It's like trying to say Elixir wasn't influenced the most by Erlang
      - hollerith 2y ago
        Was any Elixir interpreter or compiler every written in Erlang? If not, what is the relevance of your comment?
        jolux 2y ago
        Elixir’s implementation still has significant parts written in Erlang. I don’t know if it’s a majority but it’s a lot. e.g.: https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/blob/aef7e4eab521dfba9e81708b0f5d28bfe428babe/lib/elixir/src/elixir_erl_for.erl https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/blob/aef7e4eab521dfba9...
- itishappy 2y ago
  Rust was bootsrapped in OCaml. https://github.com/mozilla/rust/tree/ef75860a0a72f79f97216f8aaa5b388d98da6480/src/boot https://github.com/mozilla/rust/tree/ef75860a0a72f79f97216f8...
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- liveranga 2y ago
  https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/influences.html https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/influences.html
- samatman 2y ago
  > SML, OCaml: algebraic data types, pattern matching, type inference, semicolon statement separation > Haskell (GHC): typeclasses, type families https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/influences.html https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/influences.html
  - hollerith 2y ago
    Haskell has algebraic data types, pattern matching and type inference, too, and has had them since Haskell first appeared in 1990. Although SML is older (1983), OCaml is younger than Haskell.

by mmoll 2y ago

hollerith 2y ago

>I read somewhere that OCaml had a greater influence on it Whoever wrote that is wrong.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
randomdata 2y ago
If we could wave a magic wand and remove Haskell's influence on Rust, Rust would still exist in some kind of partial form. If we waved the same wand and removed OCaml's influence, Rust would no longer exist at all. You are the one who is wrong, I'm afraid.
- lkitching 2y ago
  Which OCaml features exist in Rust but not Haskell? The trait system looks very similar to Haskell typeclasses, but I'm not aware of any novel OCaml influence on the language.
  - randomdata 2y ago
    > Which OCaml features exist in Rust but not Haskell? Rust's most important feature! The bootstrapped implementation.
    - lkitching 2y ago
      I'm not convinced the implementation language of the compiler counts as a feature of the Rust language. If the argument is that Rust wouldn't have been invented without the original author wanting a 'systems OCaml' then fine. But it's possible Rust would still look similar to how it does now in a counterfactual world where the original inspiration was Haskell rather than OCaml, but removing the Haskell influence from Rust as it is now would result in something quite different.
      - randomdata 2y ago
        Rust isn't just a language, though. Additionally, unlike some languages that are formally specified before turning to implementation, Rust has subscribed to design-by-implementation. The implementation is the language.
        lkitching 2y ago
        That just means the semantics of the language are defined by whatever the default implementation does. It's a big stretch to conclude that means Rust 'was' OCaml in some sense when the compiler was written with it. Especially now the Rust compiler is written in Rust itself.
        randomdata 2y ago
        You're overthinking again. Read what is said, not what you want it to say in some fairytale land.
TwentyPosts 2y ago
The original rust compiler was written in OCaml. That's not evidence it "had an influence", but it's highly striking considering how many other languages Greydon could've used.
- hollerith 2y ago
  Yes: if a person knows nothing else about Rust and the languages that might have influenced it, then the fact that the original Rust compiler was written in OCaml should make that person conclude tentatively that OCaml was the language that influenced the design of Rust the most. I'm not one to hold that one shouldn't form tentative conclusions until one "has all the fact". Also, I'm not one to hold that readers should trust the opinion of an internet comment writer they know nothing about. I could write a long explanation to support my opinion, but I'm probably not going to.
  - dimitrios1 2y ago
    It's like trying to say Elixir wasn't influenced the most by Erlang
    - hollerith 2y ago
      Was any Elixir interpreter or compiler every written in Erlang? If not, what is the relevance of your comment?
      - jolux 2y ago
        Elixir’s implementation still has significant parts written in Erlang. I don’t know if it’s a majority but it’s a lot. e.g.: https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/blob/aef7e4eab521dfba9e81708b0f5d28bfe428babe/lib/elixir/src/elixir_erl_for.erl https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/blob/aef7e4eab521dfba9...
itishappy 2y ago
Rust was bootsrapped in OCaml. https://github.com/mozilla/rust/tree/ef75860a0a72f79f97216f8aaa5b388d98da6480/src/boot https://github.com/mozilla/rust/tree/ef75860a0a72f79f97216f8...
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
liveranga 2y ago
https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/influences.html https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/influences.html
samatman 2y ago
> SML, OCaml: algebraic data types, pattern matching, type inference, semicolon statement separation > Haskell (GHC): typeclasses, type families https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/influences.html https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/influences.html
- hollerith 2y ago
  Haskell has algebraic data types, pattern matching and type inference, too, and has had them since Haskell first appeared in 1990. Although SML is older (1983), OCaml is younger than Haskell.