[memory safety] is a more or less solved research problem
I don’t know if I would go that far. There are some interesting alternative approaches to Rust’s borrow checker that might turn out to be better. There’s definitely more research that can be done.
But we do have at least one solution that works very well.
The nice thing is if a much better solution exists then a rust compiler that uses it can be implemented using it. Then you don’t have to rewrite all the rust code.
If you don’t code with undefined behavior compiler updates can apply to legacy code. I’ve been through enough compiler upgrades with microcontrollers that it’s old hat.
I don’t know if I would go that far. There are some interesting alternative approaches to Rust’s borrow checker that might turn out to be better. There’s definitely more research that can be done.
But we do have at least one solution that works very well.
The nice thing is if a much better solution exists then a rust compiler that uses it can be implemented using it. Then you don’t have to rewrite all the rust code.
No, the alternative solutions definitely wouldn’t work with existing Rust code. You need a new language.
Rust++
If you don’t code with undefined behavior compiler updates can apply to legacy code. I’ve been through enough compiler upgrades with microcontrollers that it’s old hat.
I’m talking about things like Perceus. It’s not a compiler update.