this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2025
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Why are there so many graybeards in FOSS? (www.theregister.com)
submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/technology
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[โ€“] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

There may be some truth to that, but seeing Rust take off means there's still interest in lower level languages. Rust is making its way to the Linux kernel and other established FOSS projects, which improves the chances for people uncomfortable with C-style languages to get involved.

But I think the explanation is simpler: younger people don't have the time for FOSS, and few companies pay people to work on FOSS. So these graybeards are either grandfathered into the few roles that exist, or have sufficient time (e.g. kids moved out/largely independent).

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

I'm perfectly comfortable with C, it's a neat, small, language. I actually understand the whole of the semantics (at least the POSIX ones). I also happen to speak x86 assembly quite fluently (as long as it's not SIMD noone speaks that fluently, last time I actually wrote assembly in earnest x87 was still relevant). The thing is though I'm more comfortable with Rust, even if I don't understand absolutely everything: Because it's less mental load. I don't need to worry about so many things at once, don't have to keep a thousand assumptions in mind that that pieces of code I'm not currently working on are making.

No, driving a unicycle instead of the metro doesn't make you a better commuter. It makes you a better unicycle driver.