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0 pointssunshowers7mo ago0 comments

Rust's edition system allows the language frontend to be changed every few years.

0 comments

In particular, note that new Rust compiles code with both old and new editions. Upgrading Rust does not require you to move to the new edition. And one project can pull in crates from multiple editions.

(Imagine if Python 3 let you import Python 2 modules seamlessly.)

17186274407mo ago

That's nice, but I think at some point they will cut the old implementation, as otherwise they would end with hundreds of versions.

And it doesn't exactly help to compile newer software on an older OS.

sunshowersOP7mo ago

No, there's a commitment to not cut old editions. A new edition/frontend comes out every 3 years, so Rust (and maybe humanity) is probably going to be completely dead long before it has hundreds of versions.

steveklabnik7mo ago

To elaborate on what sunshowers said, because editions only impact the early parts of the compiler, most of the code isn’t edition specific, which makes maintenance easy.

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