[oguz-ismail]

The final version is still ugly. Why `pub fn'? Why is public not the default and why do you have to specify that it's a function? Why `: type' and `-> type', why can't type go before the identifier? Why do you need `File::' and `Bytes::'? What is that question mark? Why does the last statement not need a semicolon? It's like the opposite of everything people are used to.

[kelnos]

> Why `pub fn'?

I prefer it this way; defaults should be conservative or more common: I write many many more private functions than public. I'm not sure what your objection to 'fn' is... seems like a superficial problem. It likely makes the language easier for the compiler to parse, and to me, it makes it easier to read.

> Why `: type' and `-> type', why can't type go before the identifier?

Because putting the type afterward is more ergonomic. If you're used to C/C++/Java/etc. it feels weird, but once you start writing code with the type after the declaration, it feels much more natural.

> Why do you need `File::' and `Bytes::'?

I'm not sure what you mean here. They're types. You have to specify types.

> What is that question mark?

The question mark is basically "if the Result is Ok, unwrap it; if it's an Err, return it immediately."

> Why does the last statement not need a semicolon?

Leaving off the semicolon returns the last expression from the block.

> It's like the opposite of everything people are used to.

Maybe if your experience with programming languages is fairly limited...

[pta2002]

Short answer for the type ordering and `fn`: because C/C++/Java tried that type of syntax and the result was an ambiguous grammar that is way too hard to parse, not to mention C's overly complicated pointer syntax.

[atoav]

As someone who doesn't think it is pretty, but knows Rust I went through all your points and let me assure you except for the one where you wonder why the syntax can't be more like C/C++ where it comes down to taste, all of your questions have an answer that really makes sense if you understand the language.

E.g. making pub default is precisely the decision a language would make that values concise code over what the code actually does.

[janalsncm]

Definitely agree, “pub” was one of the design decisions I loved learning Rust. If you forget to add it, you’ll get a compiler error. But if pub was default, I’d be exposing code unnecessarily. And no need for a separate private keyword, the absence of pub is sufficient.

The same reasoning works for “mut” as well.

That said, I don’t like Rust’s syntax. Especially once you get to lambdas, things get hard to read.

[uasi]

Your points have nothing to do with ugliness.

> Why `pub fn'? Why is public not the default and why do you have to specify that it's a function?

If public were the default, you'd end up having to make other functions `priv fn` instead.

> Why `: type' and `-> type', why can't type go before the identifier?

It's easier to parse, and most major typed languages other than C/C++/C#/Java put the type after the identifier.

> Why do you need `File::' and `Bytes::'?

Seriously?

> What is that question mark?

The final version doesn't use a question mark.

> Why does the last statement not need a semicolon?

This is a legitimate question. In Rust, the last statement without a semicolon becomes the return value.

[mFixman]

> If public were the default, you'd end up having to make other functions `priv fn` instead.

My guilty pleasure is Go's visibility system, where all functions that start with lowercase are private to the scope of the current class/file and all Functions that start with Uppercase are public.

It doesn't look but it would work and it's a mess when you need acronyms, but it somehow works great and the result looks nice.

[kelnos]

I actually really dislike Go's system! Casing, to me, shouldn't be significant. (Just like I dislike how whitespace is significant in Python.) And to me it just doesn't look nice, but I also prefer snake_case over camelCase and PascalCase.