Linus Torvalds: Speaks on the Rust vs C Linux Divide
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Linus Torvalds Speaks on the the divide between Rust and C Linux developers an the future Linux. Will things like fragmentation among the open source community hurt the Linux Kernel? We'll listen to the Creator of Linux.
For the full key note, checkout: Keynote: Linus Torvalds in Conversation with Dirk Hohndel
The Register's summary: Torvalds weighs in on 'nasty' Rust vs C for Linux debate
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If you believe in ADTs, limiting mutation, & a type system that goes beyond Rust’s affine types + lack of refinements (including a interleaved proof system), you could be writing kernel code in ATS which compiles to C.
there have been attempts at writing kernels using stuff like Coq https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~rgu/publications/cacm19-gu.pdf
Correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that you use Coq to prove your theroem, then need to rewrite it in something else. I think there is some OCaml integration, but OCaml—while having create performance for a high level language & fairly predictable output—isn’t well-suited for very low-level kernel code. The difference in the ATS case (with the ML syntax similarity 🤘) is you can a) write it all in a single language & b) you can interweave proof, type, & value-level code thru the language instead of separating them; which means your functions need to make the proof-level asserts inside their bodies to satisfy the compiler if written with these requirements, or the type level asserting the linear type usage with value-level requirements to if allocating memory, must deallocate memory as well as compeletly prevent double free & use after free.
For those in the back: Rust can’t do this with its affine types only preventing using a resource multiple times (at most once), where linear types say you must use once & can only use once.
You'r right that only OCaml and Haskell can be used as extraction target for Coq programs. However, it is possible to use Coq to write verified C software. On example is the Verified Software Toolchain that lets you translate C programs to a format that Coq understands and can prove theorems regarding their behavior.