points by paaloeye 1 day ago | 0 comments
I'm not really buying that whole safe/unsafe narrative. Every language is safe if you're using it right.
Using Java because it's safe punishes the best case (i.e. using it right) in complexity, performance, and inter-op due to potential worst cases (i.e using it wrong).
It also doesn't allow you to grow because you're _safe_ already.
In general, world is unsafe at it is, but we don't _invent_ a safe version. We just adapt and learn how to deal with it.
Microsoft and Chromium each reported that roughly 70% of their serious security bugs were memory safety bugs. That's not a problem of beginners misusing the language. Like I said, just take a look at the Android security bulletins and count how many of these come from memory safety issues and how these numbers have improved in recent years with migrations to Rust. PHP last week? Memory safety issue.
The amount of high impact vulnerabilities coming from memory unsafe languages C and C++ proves there are too many people who "can't use it right". And these people apparently include very skilled people working at companies like Microsoft and Google on high profile projects.
We wouldn't need seatbelts if everyone would just drive safe. We wouldn't need hard hats at a construction site if everyone would just work safe.