[burntsushi]

>> At the same time, we are seeing Rust pop up in a lot of places that used to be the exclusive domain of C. People are already re-implementing libraries, popular command line tools,

> Yes, but some (e.g. ripgrep) don't actually do the same thing as the programs they are supposed to "re-implement". Most Rust "re-implementations" don't actually re-implement programs, they are new programs doing a similar-but-not-quite-the-same thing to the older C implementations. For example, ripgrep is neither GNU or POSIX compliant, and therefore it is not a re-implementation.

That ripgrep isn't GNU or POSIX compliant is indeed a distinction worth making, but certainly not in this context. You're taking on a very pedantic interpretation of "re-implementation" here that doesn't really matter to the general point. Specifically:

> At the same time, we are seeing Rust pop up in a lot of places that used to be the exclusive domain of C. People are already re-implementing libraries, popular command line tools, etc. A lot of these implementations have clear merit in the sense that they are faster, safer to use, easier to scale, maintain, etc.

None of this requires any of the "re-implementations" to be 100% strict bug-for-bug compatible tools.

This general confusion comes up so often that I have a FAQ item for it: https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/blob/master/FAQ.md#pos...

[paulddraper]

> a distinction worth making, but certainly not in this context.

It is a worthwhile distinction, because the "re-implementation" talked about is often materially different, to the point that it no longer adheres to what little standardization there is.

So realistically we are talking about a new product, or a radical evolution of an existing one. It and everything above it also have to change.

[burntsushi]

I commented because ripgrep was specifically brought up as a counter-example to the notion "At the same time, we are seeing Rust pop up in a lot of places that used to be the exclusive domain of C." What specifically, about ripgrep, removes it from consideration as evidence that Rust programs can operate in the same domain as C?

Consider this. If instead of

> At the same time, we are seeing Rust pop up in a lot of places that used to be the exclusive domain of C. People are already re-implementing libraries, popular command line tools, etc. A lot of these implementations have clear merit in the sense that they are faster, safer to use, easier to scale, maintain, etc.

they wrote

> At the same time, we are seeing Rust pop up in a lot of places that used to be the exclusive domain of C. People are already re-implementing popular command line tools, albeit with different interfaces that lack POSIX compatibility. A lot of these implementations have clear merit in the sense that they are faster, safer to use, easier to scale, maintain, etc.

Other that the words being more precise for pedants, does the central point of the statement change? No, it doesn't.