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Comment by denfromufa | Hacker News Reader

So why not Cython like PayPal?

I'd switch it around: why Cython and not Rust, given their CLI is written in Rust?

This strikes me as a perfect use case for Rust, too: it has great compile time memory and other safety guarantees with a speed that is likely close to (or perhaps even better than "safe") C or C++.

Yea they mentioned alternatives, but cython wasn't mentioned at all. I guess Rust makes sure there aren't any memory issues , but it's far from the only easy option.

Cython is used everywhere and can be compiled on the machine it's about to be used on. It also follows best practices for talking to python via FFI.

Not sure what you mean about cython and the FFI. As far as I know, cython is tightly coupled to the CPython C API.

I agree that cython is a good option if you only care about CPython.

That's just not true, Cython works with PyPy https://cython.readthedocs.io/en/latest/src/userguide/pypy.h..., and it's not like you're going to target Jython with CFFI.

Cython does work with pypy, but via the cpyext emulation of the CPython C API. See this answer from one of the pypy devs when I asked about this about a year ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10195892

Maybe cpyext has gotten faster since then, but I think that's the state of things still.

That's true, it does have to be using the C API. I think I just meant there are several ways to use that API and it does the "harder way" automatically so it's more efficient.

I think they said they had a pre-existing source-map parser written in Rust for their CLI.

It looks like they already had a Rust parser that they reused

leveraging the crate ecosystem is one reason

this is pretty important here, given that we already have a sourcemap library we built in Rust (for our sentry-cli tool)

Because they already had Rust code to do the job (in a CLI tool), it was just a question of extracting and binding it.

Because the author (Armin Ronacher) loves Rust. And because common sense is lame.

That's very disingenuous as Armin Ronacher/mitsuhiko has done so much for Python.

Disingenuous? I'm not lying, he is publicly a Rust enthusiast. It would be no less true if I said this about Steve Klabnik regardless of his contributions to Ruby on Rails.

Armin might like Rust but that doesn't mean that's why it was chosen in this case. In fact the article provides a reason: they already had a Rust library for source maps and that is a very good reason to go with Rust.

More generally though you're being unfair by not even seriously considering the option that there could be a legitimate reason. Also you're simply being an insulting with your common sense comment.

You are being disingenuous, for pretending this is about truth in some way and you're coming across as being an asshole by insulting people.

Huh, I wonder who's responsible for their adoption of Rust in the first place. A real brain-teaser, this one. Anyway my point stands (and glad to see I've ruffled some feathers): Cython is the dull and maintainable choice here. Tell me which story is better for the new hire who has to work on this (David Cramer's shop is plainly a Python shop):

1) python setup.py install. Read a Cython tutorial.

2) Install the Rust toolchain and learn Rust. Hope that the language hasn't changed drastically in the past month.

Hm...

But I appreciate the "asshole" ad hominem.

Rust has been stable for a year and a half, it won't "change drastically" like that.

Isn't it common sense for a person who's been writing programs in a high level programming language to use a safe low level programming language.

Yes, Nim would be an excellent choice. See how you missed the point?

The issue is not if Armin (or myself) likes Rust; the issue here is that you're asserting that Armin chose Rust because he lacks common sense.

Given that there's an entire article about the technical merits (and success) of this approach, and Armin is someone who is known for building excellent, widely used software, well...

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

/me waits for pcwalton too

Sorry, writing a blog post, while it is Armin Ronacher's forte (yes, I use the full name as we are not on first-name basis like other HN cool kids are), does not disprove that this is the riskier choice and was made because the author likes Rust.

I don't care about Rust or even like it. Armin made a great decision here and I, and everyone else at Sentry back it. Go troll somewhere else.

I'm not trolling, and you should know that people can make poor decisions in groups too.

The hivemind hates people like you that point out the elephant in the room

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