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by lifthrasiir 280 days ago
We call that a build system. It is not like that there is no build system; you have an integrated build system that is optimized for typical situations. Which is great by its own, but other languages and toolings would have optimized other metrics (for example, you can't ignore Cargo when talking about Rust's build system) so it is not a fair comparison.
2 comments
gingerBill 280 days ago
It is a build system in the technical sense but it's hard to explain to people because they expect it to be separate from the language entirely. If I said Odin had a build system, they'd be expecting an external build script. And when you say you don't need that, they usually get really confused.

So how do you explain such a system to someone? This is a genuine question I am not sure how to answer.

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dismalaf 280 days ago
I mean, is a "build system" even real? Or does it just exist because of a shortcoming with a compiler? All "compilers" have multiple steps usually invoking other programs at some point: parsing, actual code transformation, linking, etc..., some also find packages, some rely on an external tool or long command line invocations.

But yes, Odin builds it into their compiler. Rust doesn't but does have Cargo. Both are easy, as far as typical usage goes. Rust automates dependency management, Odin doesn't automate it per se but does make it easy. Which is what the whole discussion is about. A bunch of HNers whining that Odin makes it too hard, even though everyone sane uses Git anyway, and you can add dependencies using Git, and Odin will compile them without a build tool.

So for a Rust project you use Cargo + Git, for an Odin project you use Odin + Git, for a C/C++ project you use Meson (or something else if you hate life) + Git. In the end it's mostly the same, Bill just doesn't seem to want to deal with an NPM or Crates.io situation (and fair enough!).

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lifthrasiir 279 days ago
> All "compilers" have multiple steps usually invoking other programs at some point: parsing, actual code transformation, linking, etc..., some also find packages, some rely on an external tool or long command line invocations.

There is no technical reason the compiler can do the job of build system, but they are typically separated because of separation of concerns. Rustc needs not be tightly coupled with Cargo---it just has to understand enough of package concepts (`--extern`) for the actual compilation, so they can be independently managed and evolve. Odin's would be the polar oppsite, while Zig's approach is somewhere in the middle (compiler-as-a-library).

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