I’d be curious to know what the creators of SQLite would have to say about Zig.
Zig gives the programmer more control than Rust. I think this is one of the reasons why TigerBeetle is written in Zig.
Zig gives the programmer more control than Rust. I think this is one of the reasons why TigerBeetle is written in Zig.
More control over what exactly? Allocations? There is nothing Zig can do that Rust can’t.
I read your response 3 times and I truly don't know what you mean. Mind explaining with a simple example?
Hash maps in zig std are another great example, where you can use adapter to completely change how the data is stored and accessed while keeping the same API [1]. For example to have map with limited memory bound that automatically truncates itself, in rust you need to either write completely new data structure for this or rely on someone's crate again (indexmap).
Errors in zig compose also better, in rust I find error handling really annoying. Anyhow makes it better for application development but you shouldn't use it if writing libraries.
When writing zig I always feel like I can reuse pieces of existing code by combining the building blocks at hand (including freestanding targets!). While in rust I always feel like you need go for the fully tailored solution with its own gotchas, which is ironic considering how many crates there are and how many crates projects depend on vs. typical zig projects that often don't depend on lots of stuff.
1: https://zig.news/andrewrk/how-to-use-hash-map-contexts-to-sa...
I mean yeah, allocations. Allocations are always explicit. Which is not true in C++ or Rust.
Personally I don't think it's that big of a deal, but it's a thing and maybe some people care enough.
...If you're using the alloc/std crates (which to be fair, is probably the vast majority of Rust devs). libcore and the Rust language itself do not allocate at all, so if you use appropriate crates and/or build on top of libcore yourself you too can have an explicit-allocation Rust (though perhaps not as ergonomic as Zig makes it).
From section "1.2 Compatibility". How easy is it to embed a library written in Zig in, say, a small embedded system where you may not be using Zig for the rest of the work?
Also, since you're the submitter, why did you change the title? It's just "Why is SQLite Coded in C", you added the "and not Rust" part.
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