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I'm not sure how much insight we can glean from looking at the number of commits and release cadence here. In the aftermath of such a major refactor/rewrite, I

I'm not sure how much insight we can glean from looking at the number of commits and release cadence here. In the aftermath of such a major refactor/rewrite, I would expect it to take some time to get back up to their usual development speed. Jared and the other developers are new to the Rust codebase, even if the structure is largely familiar. They're also likely focusing on other priorities right now such as tracking down instances of 'unsafe', rather than making user-facing changes (which might encourage a release). Bugfixes could encourage rapid new releases, but perhaps the rewrite simply hasn't been very buggy? As far as I know, those on the canary channel haven't reported any major issues, or even really noticed the change. So perhaps there's little reason for new releases right now, as the team slowly churns through the backlog. > P.S. Anthropic’s C compiler and Cursor’s FastRender web browser haven’t had any commits for months. I always assumed those were just experiments in capability, and weren't meant to be ongoing projects. I would hope that nobody is using them directly today.

usef- 2mo ago
They also have made a release, in a sense, since they moved all Claude code users to it a month ago. (And apparently no one noticed). I think they're taking things "gradually" as they are under a lot of scrutiny and no rush for full release.
- eproxus 2mo ago
  If that is true, isn't it a bit unconventional? What version are they using, some random Git SHA? Why couldn't that have been made to a release or a release candidate at least?
- flohofwoe 2mo ago
  Claude Code most likely only uses a tiny fraction of Bun/Node features, so Claude Code switching to the Rust rewrite doesn't mean all that much.
  - klausa 2mo ago
    Look, I understand being skeptical of the whole process; the discourse about this has been extremely tiring. But at some point if “moving one of the biggest actively maintained and used codebases to it without anyone noticing” is dismissed as “it doesn’t mean all that much”, then we’ve lost the plot a little bit somewhere.
    - flohofwoe 2mo ago
      It's the equivalent of porting Unreal Engine 5 to another language and then using it exclusively to run a 2D Tetris clone. Let's wait for the next Bun release when more real-world code is hammering it before declaring victory. (also, fwiw, a manual rewrite would be under the same scrunity and suffer from the same skepticism, at least when obviously rushed).
      - someguyiguess 2mo ago
        Is it though? What’s your source for that data?
      - klausa 2mo ago
        If you ported UE5 to, idfk, Malbolge and ran Tetris on it and someone would dismiss it as “not impressive”, I would think they lost the plot too!
        miroljub 2mo ago
        You just compared Rust to Malbolge :)
        chuckadams 2mo ago
        If you could successfully write Tetris in Malbolge, I would call that impressive indeed. Just writing Hello World was a major effort IIRC. The nature of the malbolge interpreter makes it more of a cryptography exercise than a coding one.
        2mo ago
- qskousen 2mo ago
  I've had several bun-related crashes in Claude code in the last week, which I don't remember ever seeing before then.
  - Jarred 2mo ago
    Does it print a bun.report link and can you paste it? I will investigate.
- Aurornis 2mo ago
  Claude Code has a huge userbase. This is an impressive result so soon after the rewrite. This is an impressive milestone for their rewrite. There are a lot of comments trying to downplay this as being unimpressive for some reason, but I can’t see them as anything other than sour grapes because the rewrite hasn’t crashed and burned like they were hoping.
  - giancarlostoro 2mo ago
    It's just blind AI hate for no rhyme or reason. I've ported projects from one language to the next using Claude Code long before Bun even did this, it's very trivial for an LLM. In the case of Bun though, they have a test suite to run the entire codebase against, and so long as all of those tests pass, there's and drastically more likely chance that its correct.
    - dogleash 2mo ago
      The LLM translation of serenity brower's javascript engine to rust and bun's translation to rust actually provide an interesting set of open source projects to compare and contrast. While there will obviously be some blind hate, there is difference in commentary on the two projects. In technical details, Adreas'/Jared's approaches and communication. That all shows me there is substance to the criticism that isn't just AI naysaying.
    - Banditoz 2mo ago
      Seems to be more level skepticism to me. Not "blind hate".
      - pdimitar 2mo ago
        I don't see the multiple dramatic comments to the effect of "this whole thing was a failure" as a level skepticism. While I am sure that one exists, I've noticed another wave of Rust hate hopping on that event which is honestly just sad to watch at this point. I am sure we are both right though.
tomlockwood 2mo ago
Author here: I'm also not sure how much we can glean from any of that!!! I look forward to Anthropic or Bun releasing a retrospective after their next release that fully outlines the cost.
- jeltz 2mo ago
  Given their history with previous other marketing stunts I do not expect any retrospective. The technology is real but I have little faith in open and honest communication from Anthropic.
  - jgalt212 2mo ago
    truth. We'll just have to wait and see what the frequency and severity of bug reports is going forward. I have my biases, but I'm not going to make any forecasts here. I'm content to let the evidence dribble in. However, I don't rely on Bun for any critical systems. i.e. I realize it's easy for me to have a wait and see attitude with this one.
- grim_io 2mo ago
  There is no incentive for them to be honest about the downsides and problems.
wonnage 2mo ago
The CI/CD costs are an interesting take, most of the rebuttals to AI ROI are something like “more code doesn’t mean more value!” but if you are charging per CI run then it actually does! Particularly with CI and extra testing being the main way to prevent the loops the AI companies are shilling from going off the rails

usef- 2mo ago

They also have made a release, in a sense, since they moved all Claude code users to it a month ago. (And apparently no one noticed). I think they're taking things "gradually" as they are under a lot of scrutiny and no rush for full release.

eproxus 2mo ago
If that is true, isn't it a bit unconventional? What version are they using, some random Git SHA? Why couldn't that have been made to a release or a release candidate at least?
flohofwoe 2mo ago
Claude Code most likely only uses a tiny fraction of Bun/Node features, so Claude Code switching to the Rust rewrite doesn't mean all that much.
- klausa 2mo ago
  Look, I understand being skeptical of the whole process; the discourse about this has been extremely tiring. But at some point if “moving one of the biggest actively maintained and used codebases to it without anyone noticing” is dismissed as “it doesn’t mean all that much”, then we’ve lost the plot a little bit somewhere.
  - flohofwoe 2mo ago
    It's the equivalent of porting Unreal Engine 5 to another language and then using it exclusively to run a 2D Tetris clone. Let's wait for the next Bun release when more real-world code is hammering it before declaring victory. (also, fwiw, a manual rewrite would be under the same scrunity and suffer from the same skepticism, at least when obviously rushed).
    - someguyiguess 2mo ago
      Is it though? What’s your source for that data?
    - klausa 2mo ago
      If you ported UE5 to, idfk, Malbolge and ran Tetris on it and someone would dismiss it as “not impressive”, I would think they lost the plot too!
      - miroljub 2mo ago
        You just compared Rust to Malbolge :)
      - chuckadams 2mo ago
        If you could successfully write Tetris in Malbolge, I would call that impressive indeed. Just writing Hello World was a major effort IIRC. The nature of the malbolge interpreter makes it more of a cryptography exercise than a coding one.
        2mo ago
qskousen 2mo ago
I've had several bun-related crashes in Claude code in the last week, which I don't remember ever seeing before then.
- Jarred 2mo ago
  Does it print a bun.report link and can you paste it? I will investigate.
Aurornis 2mo ago
Claude Code has a huge userbase. This is an impressive result so soon after the rewrite. This is an impressive milestone for their rewrite. There are a lot of comments trying to downplay this as being unimpressive for some reason, but I can’t see them as anything other than sour grapes because the rewrite hasn’t crashed and burned like they were hoping.
- giancarlostoro 2mo ago
  It's just blind AI hate for no rhyme or reason. I've ported projects from one language to the next using Claude Code long before Bun even did this, it's very trivial for an LLM. In the case of Bun though, they have a test suite to run the entire codebase against, and so long as all of those tests pass, there's and drastically more likely chance that its correct.
  - dogleash 2mo ago
    The LLM translation of serenity brower's javascript engine to rust and bun's translation to rust actually provide an interesting set of open source projects to compare and contrast. While there will obviously be some blind hate, there is difference in commentary on the two projects. In technical details, Adreas'/Jared's approaches and communication. That all shows me there is substance to the criticism that isn't just AI naysaying.
  - Banditoz 2mo ago
    Seems to be more level skepticism to me. Not "blind hate".
    - pdimitar 2mo ago
      I don't see the multiple dramatic comments to the effect of "this whole thing was a failure" as a level skepticism. While I am sure that one exists, I've noticed another wave of Rust hate hopping on that event which is honestly just sad to watch at this point. I am sure we are both right though.

tomlockwood 2mo ago

Author here: I'm also not sure how much we can glean from any of that!!! I look forward to Anthropic or Bun releasing a retrospective after their next release that fully outlines the cost.

jeltz 2mo ago
Given their history with previous other marketing stunts I do not expect any retrospective. The technology is real but I have little faith in open and honest communication from Anthropic.
- jgalt212 2mo ago
  truth. We'll just have to wait and see what the frequency and severity of bug reports is going forward. I have my biases, but I'm not going to make any forecasts here. I'm content to let the evidence dribble in. However, I don't rely on Bun for any critical systems. i.e. I realize it's easy for me to have a wait and see attitude with this one.
grim_io 2mo ago
There is no incentive for them to be honest about the downsides and problems.

wonnage 2mo ago

The CI/CD costs are an interesting take, most of the rebuttals to AI ROI are something like “more code doesn’t mean more value!” but if you are charging per CI run then it actually does! Particularly with CI and extra testing being the main way to prevent the loops the AI companies are shilling from going off the rails