Comments by "disgruntledtoons" (@disgruntledtoons) on "Low Level" channel.

  1. C succeeded because it enabled engineers to get stuff done. Whether Rust overtakes C depends on whether Rust developers can get stuff done more quickly to the point that the advantages are clear. This means the learning curve must not be too steep, and there cannot be chronic situations where the developer has to learn something that won't be used for another sixth months.
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  2. C is a layer directly on top of assembler, and is best approached on this basis.
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  3. Sounds to me like Rust is not ready for prime time.
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  4. Correction: Computers can have millions of cores. Processors cannot.
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  5. So for password hash checks, have a pass/fail flag, and a dummy flag, and set them both to true. Loop through the entire hash, checking it against the has of whatever was entered. For each match, clear the dummy, and for any mismatch clear the pass/fail flag. Code these two paths so that they take the exact same amount of time. Always check the entire hash, even if the first character of the hash fails the check. Return the pass/fail flag. The result is that password checks always take the same amount of time, no matter how closely or badly the password matches.
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  6. It would be simpler to simply learn how to safely handle naked pointers.
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  7. Your alternative to print debugging is to learn something that is far and away more complex. This does not help.
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  8. The main bottleneck in 3d rendering is the need to divide by an arbitrary floating-point value. If you are able to eliminate even one divide operation, everything needed to accomplish it is essentially free.
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