> Nothing forces you to depend on any packages you don’t want to.
Nothing stops you, either, which is a problem for everyone in the future who uses your code. The first reaction to any problem in JavaScript/webdev is to google for a library to import to solve the problem. This is acceptable behavior because the existence of a web browser implies powerful enough resources to accommodate bloat. But this mentality isn't acceptable on other systems and has even infected some basic functionality:
Random number generation has trade-offs for speed, security, and thread safety.
Most other langues with a "simple" built-in are unfit in some of these aspects, so you may end up with a footgun and still have to find a replacement.
In Rust you can choose which algorithms are used and how. And because it's a regular package, it can be improved without breaking the language.
Note that number of dependencies doesn't mean anything. Some crates are split into tiny deps for each feature, so that you can reduce binary size and compile time if you disable optional features.
As does Java and .NET. Without any dependencies and guaranteed to be portable.
> Note that number of dependencies doesn't mean anything. Some crates are split into tiny deps for each feature, so that you can reduce binary size and compile time if you disable optional features.
In theory I agree. It just seems like one of the persistent unsolved problems in software is dependency hell (spawning the whole containerization movement), so I'd like to avoid it if I could.
Rust compiles on far more platforms than amd64, and Cargo works just fine.
Nothing forces you to depend on any packages you don’t want to.