It's not cynical. It's how many of us feel when we read a comment like this.
I believe you are right. But I also think that your phrasing is not very nice. It shows a lack of empathy and understanding and feels entitled.
You could convey essentially the same message but be way nicer to everyone involved, and that would be way more efficient.
If your ideal is a browser engine written in a safer language, and want to work towards that goal, phrasing things the way you did in your comment is one of the worst way to do it because you risk putting off people and they will associate this bad feeling to your idea. See how people react to comments about Rust.
Some of your options are:
- writing a browser engine yourself, in a safer language
- contributing to an existing browser engine like Servo
- convince projects to switch to a safer language, or to accept contributions in a safer language
- convince someone or a group of people to do those things
- fund such an enterprise
At this point, the world needs proof that a browser engine can practically be written in something else than C++, because it's what all three major engines are written in. There are strong evidences that Rust can be an option given the existence of Servo, but look how Ladybird is progressing so absurdly faster than Servo.
If you don't work yourself towards your goal, you can only humbly share your wish.
Lobbying is fine too, but you really need to make sure you don't make others hate your idea because of the way you communicate. Specifically in this topic, you need to take in account that many people are already annoyed by the numerous "why not Rust" comments, so you are walking on eggshells.
What's more, don't forget the global picture, and that security (although critical, we agree) is only one aspect. Security is irrelevant in a project that doesn't even exist. C++ is better than other languages for a lot of reasons in other aspects and you will need to address this, in the context of writing a browser.
Good luck in your endeavors, I hope you succeed, I believe it's a good ideal.
I will attempt to word my questions/thoughts in a less confrontational way in the future. I tend to write my questions in the same way they occur in my internal monologue. I understand how that comes across to some.
I’m happy there is someone out there genuinely interested in creating another alternative to the near monoculture that is web browsers. I hope that they gain traction in the open source community as well as wider adoption upon maturity.
I’ll try to follow the project development and maybe I can learn myself why other languages may not be as well suited as C++. It seems that language proficiency is the most common answer I’ve received besides earned criticism of the way I formed my question.
I believe you are right. But I also think that your phrasing is not very nice. It shows a lack of empathy and understanding and feels entitled.
You could convey essentially the same message but be way nicer to everyone involved, and that would be way more efficient.
If your ideal is a browser engine written in a safer language, and want to work towards that goal, phrasing things the way you did in your comment is one of the worst way to do it because you risk putting off people and they will associate this bad feeling to your idea. See how people react to comments about Rust.
Some of your options are:
- writing a browser engine yourself, in a safer language
- contributing to an existing browser engine like Servo
- convince projects to switch to a safer language, or to accept contributions in a safer language
- convince someone or a group of people to do those things
- fund such an enterprise
At this point, the world needs proof that a browser engine can practically be written in something else than C++, because it's what all three major engines are written in. There are strong evidences that Rust can be an option given the existence of Servo, but look how Ladybird is progressing so absurdly faster than Servo.
If you don't work yourself towards your goal, you can only humbly share your wish.
Lobbying is fine too, but you really need to make sure you don't make others hate your idea because of the way you communicate. Specifically in this topic, you need to take in account that many people are already annoyed by the numerous "why not Rust" comments, so you are walking on eggshells.
What's more, don't forget the global picture, and that security (although critical, we agree) is only one aspect. Security is irrelevant in a project that doesn't even exist. C++ is better than other languages for a lot of reasons in other aspects and you will need to address this, in the context of writing a browser.
Good luck in your endeavors, I hope you succeed, I believe it's a good ideal.