[insanitybit]

Imagine if someone said "I've used Python and Scala and Python is way easier since I don't have to deal with a type system". That's where people are coming from.

The borrow checker isn't a hindrance, it's an aid. Rust gives me syntax to describe lifetimes and a tool to check that syntax.

[eru]

Yes, but if you have immutability and a garbage collector (and can afford to use some extra memory overhead), the borrow checker and lifetimes aren't really all that necessary to bother with.