The same is true of poorly performing programs. My computer's resources are not the programmers' to waste, yet they routinely do waste it to save themselves time[0].
> I don't know how as a profession we're so cavalier with shipping exposed whirling knives, but we are.
That's a separate problem than not handcuffing programmers and forcing them into safety checks. Why should Zig force this?
Like, I just don't even get what you're complaining about here. The default build mode and the recommended release one insert the check. Checks can additionally be enabled and disabled on a scope-by-scope basis. What exactly do you want? Just eliminate ReleaseFast as an option and give people more reasons to go back to footgun-laden C because it'll be the only way to eliminate a bounds check in a tight loop hot spot?
[0] Yes, I know this isn't due to safety checks in the vast majority of circumstances, that's not the point. I have nothing against safety checks, my problem is with the mentality that it should not be possible to disable them. Even Rust has `unsafe`.
> Rust evangelists need to be careful because in their zeal they have started to cause subtle errors in the general knowledge of how computers work in young people's minds. Ironically it's a form of memory corruption.
I'm not even a zig user or fan or anything and I don't have any real opinion about Rust, either, except for completely agreeing with this analysis based on how I've seen Rust evangelists talk online. I'm not sure what the solution to this is, but it seems like it's just going to get worse over time as Rust becomes more popular and gains market share.
What alternative name would you prefer to express the collection of memory safety features in programming languages?
In most engineering professions, it's the engineer's responsibility to ensure appropriate levels of safety, not the CAD software used to build the blueprints. But every situation doesn't have the same level of safety required; backyard sheds don't have the same needs as skyscrapers.
I actually do think it is the responsibility of the language and runtime system to ensure some base-level safety of programs. The one constant over the years is that programmers keep making mistakes. No matter how much they keep yelling "trust us", they (we) just keep screwing up. That's not to pillory us programmers. It's just the facts that everyone screws up. In some sense, engineering is putting processes and procedures and checks in place that move human fallibility out of the critical load-bearing situations so that a simple whoops or memory slip doesn't kill people or ruin things.