blog(en): rust article

src/pages/blog/en/leaving-rust.md

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+---
+layout: ../../../layouts/BlogLayout.astro
+title: I was defeated by the Borrow Checker.
+description: Unfortunately the perfect programming language does not exist.
+pubDate: "2024-11-15"
+tags: ["programming", "rust", "borrow checker"]
+image: 
+    url: ""
+    alt: ""
+    caption: ""
+---
+
+So, I've been writing [my own programming language](https://thp-lang.org/)
+for the past few years. It's gone through many rewrites, but I settled on
+the Rust programming language. Or so I thought.
+
+So, I've been recently working on the [Symbol Table](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbol_table),
+and apparently this is one of those things that are hard on Rust.
+Like linked lists, or any other data structure. But wait! There is a
+solution! `RefCell`! Right? Right?
+
+
+## The inner mutability problem?
+
+So, I have a node (a scope, really):
+
+```rust
+struct Scopes<'a> {
+    scopes: RefCell<HashMap<String, SymbolTableScope<'a>>>,
+}
+
+struct SymbolTableScope<'a> {
+    scope_id: String,
+    members: RefCell<HashMap<String, Type>>,
+    parent_scope: Option<String>,
+}
+```
+
+A scope has members: variables and what type they are,
+a scope id, and a optional parent.
+
+So now, I want to look for a symbol on the current scope,
+and if it's not there, look on the parent scopes.
+
+```rust
+impl SymbolTableScope<'_> {
+    pub fn get_type(&self, symbol_name: &String) -> Some(???) {
+        match self.get(symbol_name) {
+            Some(t) => Some(t),
+            None => {
+                match self.parent_scope {
+                    Some(parent) => parent.get_type(symbol_name),
+                    None => None
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+```
+
+The code is not exactly what I wrote, but the concept is there.
+I get an error:
+
+```plain
+error[E0515]: cannot return value referencing temporary value
+```
+
+And I get it (at least I think I do), but I haven't found a way
+to solve it. I cannot clone it, I cannot solve it with lifetimes,
+nothing comes to mind. And even if cloning worked, eventually
+I'll want to remove all cloning for performance.
+
+So, what to do?
+
+
+
+## Debugging my language knowledge rather than my program
+
+So, I admit defeat. The borrow checker defeated me. Maybe
+I'm not smart enough, maybe I need to go through the book
+again. But at this point, I'd say 30% of my time went to
+fight the borrow checker. That is 30% of time that didn't
+go into features, tests, bug fixes, documentation, and
+so on.
+
+And sure, the borrow checker gives you safety
+like no other language does. But is it worth it?
+how many compilers were written on C/C++? Did we not do
+systems programming before Rust?
+
+I think I've reached a point where I cannot justify
+using Rust anymore. Rust is amazing for small to
+medium programs, but it seems like as soon as you
+need both performance and multiple mutability,
+Rust becomes a slowdown. So, I've decided I will be
+rewriting my language, yet again, probably in Zig.
+I will specially miss the `ariadne` and `rustyline`
+crates, they made my life and compiler so much
+better. But alas, so long and thanks for all the
+fish.
+
+## Thank you Rust, welcome Zig
+
+I will now rewrite my compiler in Zig. As always,
+I am going in without being a master in the language,
+but that's the fun part.
+
+If Zig fails me maybe I'll settle on Go or smt, idk
+
+
+
+
+
+