> Rewrite a bundler in Rust and you haven't only made it faster. You've also shrunk the pool of JavaScript developers who can maintain it. The new tool still looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, but it's a different beast altogether. Its internals retreat behind a black box that fewer people hold the keys to. The source may still be open, but the door to contributions is closing.
Alternatively, there's a pool of JS developers who shouldn't be maintaining critical infrastructure to begin with.
It's not a black box, those codebases are usually open and the only thing holding you or anyone back is learning anything outside of a small pond of JavaScript.
Write non-browser-things in fast languages. It is not a complicated concept - even less so in an era where stuff is getting written for you.
I think there's a huge spectrum between "pokes around in source code occasionally" and "maintains critical infrastructure." Learning to read and understand the open source software that powers a lot of the toolchain is a big part of the development of a lot of engineers, and said toolchain mostly not being written in a language you're familiar with is a barrier to that (not an insurmountable barrier, but still a barrier, to be clear).
I agree with you that the juice is worth the squeeze here, but I don't think it's right to pretend that there's absolutely zero cost in terms of the learning pathway for the next generation of open source contributors and maintainers.
Klonoar · · focus · HN ↗
Alternatively, there's a pool of JS developers who shouldn't be maintaining critical infrastructure to begin with.
It's not a black box, those codebases are usually open and the only thing holding you or anyone back is learning anything outside of a small pond of JavaScript.
Write non-browser-things in fast languages. It is not a complicated concept - even less so in an era where stuff is getting written for you.
whakim · · focus · HN ↗
I agree with you that the juice is worth the squeeze here, but I don't think it's right to pretend that there's absolutely zero cost in terms of the learning pathway for the next generation of open source contributors and maintainers.