How good is rust at using existing C/C++ libraries? There’s so many of them for very useful low-level functionality, especially when programming against the Win32 API (which is written in C/C++ itself). Could I write a Windows kernel driver in rust?
I also can’t ignore the fact that Mozilla has been in serious decline as an organization in recent years. I worry about rust’s long-term trajectory as their support of the language wanes. It’s one of the reasons I feel so positive about the future of go, as they have a lot of dedicated people on it from google (an organization that in all likelihood won’t be going anywhere anytime soon).
> How good is rust at using existing C/C++ libraries? There’s so many of them for very useful low-level functionality, especially when programming against the Win32 API (which is written in C/C++ itself).
About as good as any other language with a C FFI (which is most of them).
> ... I worry about rust’s long-term trajectory as [Mozilla's] support of the language wanes.
I thought that was the whole point of having a Rust Foundation as separate from Mozilla itself.
Rust has very strong backing at Meta, Microsoft, Google, AWS and others. I wouldn't worry about corporate backing.
You can call into the Windows APIs (there's a windows crate) and if you want to call into something that isn't there, `cbindgen` and friends are amazing.
I've posted all my research on the subject here: https://www.insp3ct.re/blog/blockchain-security-reference-gu.... It's focused on the security side of blockchain & cryptocurrencies, but it starts out with a solid primer on how the technology works. I also did a conference talk at DerbyCon on the subject, which is included in the blog post. Should be really good to get you started.
I also can’t ignore the fact that Mozilla has been in serious decline as an organization in recent years. I worry about rust’s long-term trajectory as their support of the language wanes. It’s one of the reasons I feel so positive about the future of go, as they have a lot of dedicated people on it from google (an organization that in all likelihood won’t be going anywhere anytime soon).