Odin or Rust
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there are now quite a few developers actively working with Rust full-time and paid.
Yeah. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. But
quite a few
doesn't always cut it to break into the field.But my concern was entirely misplaced as they're picking for a hobby project anyway.
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As someone who's used both, I'd have a strong preference for Odin over Rust if it were at a stable 1.0 release. As it stands now (or, at least, when I used it), Odin is very much in flux. Spend enough time with the language, and you'll either find a bug with the compiler or the semantics will change after you update.
That said, it would be my favorite without those problems. It is a really simple language in a good way. There's no fancy language features that are just syntax sugar (well except maybe context, but I find that to be actually convenient). You can understand everything in an afternoon if you are already familiar with programming in other languages. Rust is pretty much the opposite in all of these reguards.
Rust also has the benefit of being pretty recognizable at this point, so if you say your project is in Rust then people will know what that means, unlike Odin. More "resume-able" in a way.
So, in short:
- Odin if you're doing it as a hobby
- Rust if you want something "real"
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You should seriously consider using Odin if you happen to be writing code on a Wednesday and you want additional divine blessing.
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Game engines seem to be explicitly what Odin was built do. I'm just reading their website for the first time but they make that clear.
My impression of Odin is that its explicitly made to enable you to write unsafe code. But that's good if you want to get some crazy optimizations going through.
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I agree Odin is simple which is why I’m drawn to it, after all i know computer science so really i don't need a prescribed away to do something like in Rust. Rust is amazing, but it can be slow to develop in, the points is in the compiler as for a solo dev, it reduces my need for a code quality team. Odin just gets out the way and let's you get going, it's also Go like which i'm familiar with. I've been slowly planning to stick with Rust, i might help my son learn Odin though
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I'm reading his book to get up to speed on Odin as we speak
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I already know C/C++, I love them but I never use them again. Rust's borrow checker is still active in unsafe Rust, combined with Miri it detects most UB, leaks and various other problems. For instance I’m building a allocator now in Rust and i know it compiles and Miri didn't complain, sure i can do it in C and use Valgrind but Rust makes it a dream.
I know for Odin there are 3 tools i was looking at which could validate it for UB and leaks at runtime, but what attracts me to Odin is the fact it's not OOP and simple. I'm considering using it because i will be more debugging my game, rather than the language (to quote Zig).
But all that being said I’m good with Rust and it's tooling, so I’m probably going to remain with Rust. But yours and everyone's opinions is helping me form this so thank you!!
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Yes and although since originally posting, I’ve began to lean towards Rust. My son wants to learn how to program and Odin will be great for him
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This is just my take, but a game engine could be a really cool way to see how far you can take Odin. As a new language, I don’t think there are many complex projects using it.
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TLDR; I chose Rust. Thanks.
Hello everyone. I just wanted to update everyone on the result of my deliberating on Odin, Zig and Rust.
After a long time thinking it over. It has become clear that to me in personal opinion that Rust will be the best choice.
Both in terms of the compiler keeping me a solo dev producing correct code. Without the requirement for a Quality Assurance team. And also i know it really well and languages such as Odin and Zig are fantastic and I am advising my son to learn game-dev with Odin.
However, ultimately for producing quality reliable machine code. I feel that Rust is a better choice than Odin or Zig.
Thanks to everyone who commented and helped me find the decision i was looking for