February 19, 2026
Code wars in the comment pit
Farewell Rust
Goodbye, Rust (for the web): Browser crowd cheers, AI boosters say “not so fast”
TLDR: A dev said goodbye to using Rust for building websites, calling it too fussy for fast web work. Commenters erupted: some cheered familiar JavaScript tools, others argued Rust still rules for the behind‑the‑scenes stuff, and a few claimed AI will make Rust-in-the-browser the next big thing.
A developer penned a heartfelt “it’s not you, it’s me” to Rust after shipping a full web app, saying the language’s low‑level power clashes with the fast, messy needs of building for the browser. Cue the comments: one wag reframed it as “Farewell, Rust for Web”, and the chorus split fast. The practical camp argued Rust shines behind the scenes—think control panels and data pipes—while the page‑building front end is happier with JavaScript and its typed cousin TypeScript. As one put it, people “underappreciate” that ecosystem’s comfort features like instant reloads and great debuggers. Translation for non‑nerds: it’s the difference between a cozy kitchen and a lab full of beeping machines.
Then came the plot twist: an optimist claimed the future is AI writes Rust, browser runs it, name‑dropping bots that code and a tech called WebAssembly (a way to run fast code in the browser). That had JavaScript fans rolling their eyes: why add friction when the current tools are smooth? Meanwhile, Rust fans insisted the language isn’t out—just better as a high‑performance engine for APIs, not HTML pages. The thread turned into Team Comfort (JavaScript) vs Team Control (Rust), with memes about “hot reload” vs “cold compile” and a running gag about everyone trying to write a game engine. For drama, it delivered. For tech, it’s a classic tug‑of‑war between speed and sanity, with Rust and JavaScript both refusing to leave the stage.
Key Points
- •The author began programming with Pascal using Turbo Pascal, culminating in a Conway’s Game of Life project.
- •In high school, they learned C, valuing manual memory control and pointers, and later picked up C++.
- •They built multiple projects (e.g., BattleCity clone, 3D renderer, IRC bot, TTF renderer for OpenGL) during and after school.
- •Unable to land C/C++ roles, the author entered web development with PHP and later used Python and Ruby, noting web workloads favor dynamic languages due to I/O constraints.
- •Rust appealed for combining low-level control with modern tooling; by late 2023, the author built and shipped a web application in Rust.