[scoutt]

This is a common way of thinking about it, but nobody really knows. It's purely a conjecture. There is no data to back it up, and it just appeals to common sense.

Should everybody drop C/C++/whatever and rush into the Rust train because Rust people has conjecture?

I ask the opposite question. What would happen if the only programming language left is C? Wouldn't we become better programmers and raise the bar so high that the bug count drops to 0?

[jcranmer]

> What would happen if the only programming language left is C? Wouldn't we become better programmers and raise the bar so high that the bug count drops to 0?

Given that C was the dominant programming language for UNIX applications for over a decade, I think we can look to history for an answer to this question. And I believe the record shows that the answer is "no."

[whatshisface]

>Should everybody drop C/C++/whatever and rush into the Rust train because Rust people has conjecture?

The way these things usually work in practice, the evidence that a new paradigm improves things usually builds up slowly. There will never be a point at which someone proves mathematically that C is obsolete. Instead, the gentle advantages of other options will get stronger and stronger, and the effectiveness of C programmers will slowly erode compared to their competition. At first only the people who are really interested in technology will switch, but eventually only the curmudgeons will be left, clinging to an ineffective technology and using bad justifications to convince themselves they aren't handicapped. Is Rust the thing that everyone except the curmudgeons will eventually switch to? Who knows, but if you don't want to end up behind the industry then it might pay to try it out in production to see for yourself. If you don't make room for research and its attendant risks you will inevitably fall behind.

[scoutt]

I'm sorry you see things in terms of competition and curmudgeons. But I see your point, it's just another type of FUD: don't stay behind and adopt Rust because you'll be a curmudgeon.

[whatshisface]

Not exactly, I'm saying that if you stay behind and don't adopt something, where that something is whatever the industry switches to after C, you will eventually be left behind. Of course it is also possible (and likely for many people) to die or retire before that happens. It's not like C is going away any time soon.

[mypalmike]

> What would happen if the only programming language left is C? Wouldn't we become better programmers and raise the bar so high that the bug count drops to 0?

Is this a rhetorical question? Clearly the answer is no.

[Doingmything123]

Not a Rust programmer.

It seems like there is a big difference between a "mathematical certainty that certain bugs will not occur" if you play by the rules and just be a better programmer so that you don't write errors. Not that you won't have bugs in Rust but it seems like we should move towards having our tooling do more of the heavy lifting in ensuring correctness. I don't believe you will ever have the bug count drop to zero. I do believe in mathematical certainties though.

[KarlKemp]

Making cars saver has dramatically reduced death and injury, and not caused the number of accident to spike. So.. no?