Link: https://ladybird.org/posts/adopting-rust

We’ve been searching for a memory-safe programming language to replace C++ in Ladybird for a while now. We previously explored Swift, but the C++ interop never quite got there, and platform support outside the Apple ecosystem was limited. Rust is a different story. The ecosystem is far more mature for systems programming, and many of our contributors already know the language. Going forward, we are rewriting parts of Ladybird in Rust.

Porting LibJS

I used Claude Code and Codex for the translation. This was human-directed, not autonomous code generation. I decided what to port, in what order, and what the Rust code should look like. It was hundreds of small prompts, steering the agents where things needed to go. After the initial translation, I ran multiple passes of adversarial review, asking different models to analyze the code for mistakes and bad patterns.

Actually not a terrible way to use AI. Hopefully the port goes well

There will be people defending ladybird no matter what huh

"We want rust for safety. That's why we made the code in the most unreliable way to code known to humanity".

Not surprising from the devs that think that not being a fascist is political I guess

Edit : ah apparently the guy is not trying to be an enlightened centrist anymore and is a full-on nazi. Heh, who could have guessed? /s

Got a source for that? I tried searching on DDG but couldn't find anything

I came to say this sounds like a good example of how to use ai. Its going to be used but the big problem is folks who will take the output and say good enough.

I read the comment to only refer to the way AI was used.

Yeah, using AI to help you rewrite code (which is tedious) in a scenario where there are clear test cases (it either works or it doesn't) is basically the ideal usecase.

https://drewdevault.com/2025/09/24/2025-09-24-Cloudflare-and-fascists.html

Here's one, you can find more stuff by searching the name of the dev

I am completely disappointed in Ladybird, even though I had some hope for the project until now. I guess all that's left to do is wait for Servo.

I will copy my comment here:

Just so you know, Drew DeVault is a pedophile apologist. He cannot even remotely be considered a reliable source of information.

However, I completely agree regarding the use of AI, especially in a project such as a browser engine.

EDIT: I accidentally replied to this comment instead of the one with the link to Drew DeVault's blog. My bad.

Most of the information that you get about terrible people comes from terrible people because that is who knows them. Should we discount Trump accusations from Epstein because they came from a known pedo? No, pedos are the people that Trump hangs out with because that is what he is.

The Lunduke vid about this is going to be lit

Woah wait what? The “let’s vibecode it” angle is fucking stupid, to be clear, but I was unaware of that user drama. Very interesting.

...no… this is a bad idea. Especially in a browser, given the myriad safety and security concerns in play. This is an objectively bad way to make changes to the project. I can just about guarantee they’re going to introduce some horrid subtle flaws.

It keeps on coming back and ladybird supporters keep on trying to tone it down because they don't want the project to die. But yeah, the guy seems like a big piece of shit.

We need competition in the browser market, ANY competition!

* ladybird appears *

Well... that was on me, I set the bar too low

Given that Drew Devault has pity for pedophiles, the correct choice is to discount anything he says, much like you should discount anything Trump or Epstein claims without further primary sources of evidence from unaffiliated parties

I may be misinformed but the article says

We’ve verified that every AST produced by the Rust parser is identical to the C++ one, and all bytecode generated by the Rust compiler is identical to the C++ compiler’s output.

which I took to mean that the new code behaves 100% identically to the old code, like a byte-perfect decompilation. If that's not the case and it's just the same in their suite of tests then I'd agree with you.

This is not at all comparable to Trump/Epstein. Drew was only pitying pedophiles, not actual rapists This may come as a surprise to you, but there is a very clear difference (one is a choice, the other is not).

Given that Servo was already written in rust (and not just some of it), it does feel a bit like wasted effort.

(Plus, it was started by Mozilla, so theres the irony factor)

Nobody should pity pedophiles, you should want them removed from society permanently. If that's controversial, so be it

With this line of thinking I'd rather remove you from society

Then you’ve probably never really thought about what pedophilia actually means.
My partner works with pedophiles in a clinical setting and there’s way more people with pedophile tendencies than you’d think (or at least than I thought).
Most of them realise it’s a problem early on and seek help, some live in shame for most of their lives and only a tiny percentage actually does something to kids.
Obviously, this shouldn’t happen at all (!!) but saying „all pedophiles should be removed from society“ is no solution to anything.
Just to be sure: I have no idea what the ladybird-guy said about this topic, nor do I know who he is (or even what Ladybird is. I now know it’s a Browser, but that’s it).

You'd agree of course, that pedophiles should be removed from society? Is the idea of shaming pedophiles and pedo apologists some kind of line in the sand that shouldn't be crossed in your eyes?

Some people are truly sick and need a lot of help to change how their minds work. I respect your partner and their line of work. Hopefully they all can undergo thorough and intensive rehabilitative care as far away from society as possible until they are fit to be around vulnerable people.

You'd agree of course, that pedophiles should be removed from society?

No, I would most definitely not. In the same way that I would not agree that we should remove all men from society just because they make up the majority of rapists.

Is the idea of shaming pedophiles and pedo apologists some kind of line in the sand that shouldn't be crossed in your eyes?

Yes.

Right, all rapists should be removed from society, regardless of gender

That wasn't the point here. You should work on your reading comprehension. Unless you genuinely believe that all men are potential rapists that should preventively be removed from society? In which case I would just give up explaining this to someone who has the mental capacity of a toddler.

The thing You don't seem to understand is that rapists committed rape and need to be punished. Pedophilia is a disorder that if it's manifesting in a person may never have any impact on another person. Why? Because there are different ways it can affect somebody with the disorder. For some it might be a emotional thing, completely isolated from the world. For some it might just be a though of realizing that they are attracted to a person that is too young.

ACTING on these impulses is the problem. And that becomes way more likely when people don't realize their pedophilic tendencies because they surpress any reflected thoughts since it's a taboo to even consider that this disorder exists. And seeking help is even harder for the same reasons. So yes, Public shaming of EVERYONE that has this disorder is definitely not a smart move. Shaming and punishing people that act on it: yes please.

I genuinely believe that all rapists should be removed from society, regardless of gender. It wasn't very complicated of a point, surely you're smart enough to pick up on that, without resorting to ad hominem.

Yeah? For example, I don't pity people with extremely violent urges, I want them far away from peaceful civilized society. Pedos just the same, no pity, just the desire for them to be very far away from everyone else.

Jesus fucking Christ, are you just ragebaiting or are you genuinely this bad at comprehending stuff? I am talking about the equivalent of your original point, that being the PREEMPTIVE removal of ALL MEN from society due to the fact that they are the main perpetrators of rape, despite the overwhelming majority of them not being rapists at all.

Is this clear now, or should I send your Mum over to explain it to you?

I never made that point, so I didn't address it. After you said "I’d rather remove you from society" it was pretty clear to me you were letting emotions get the best of you. Again, no need for ad hominem depictions.

Your final hope at this point is announcing you will not use LLM to write any part of your program, including tests. Adopting a language which your developers are less familiar is bad enough, and you're writing it with LLM? I'd rather you stick with C++.

Their point is that attraction doesn't entail crime or even willingness to commit crimes. Punishing someone for a thought crime is unenforceable and absurd.

That is appalling, and I don't mean to diminish the importance of this, but if the claims on fascism stand to scrutiny then it's not relevant, and if the claims don't stand to scrutiny they can be easily refuted.

Edit: and to be clear, I know DHH, I've read his blog and his social media activity, he's clearly a fascist.

I wouldn't consider resident rehabilitation punishment, more of an opportunity really, but it still serves the purpose of keeping those people away from the rest of society and reintegrating them once they're fit to be around vulnerable individuals

Yes, you did make that point, by claiming that "we should remove all pedophiles from society". I gave you an equivalent example to show you how stupid that is. And you didn't just "not address it", you completely spun it around to fit your narrative. That whole point was your emotional knee-jerk reaction, I was simply throwing it back at you.

It's pretty simple, thorough and extensive rehabilitation to treat and rid individuals of the severe mental illness, such that they're fit for reintroduction into society. That's how rehab works.

You said:

Nobody should pity pedophiles, you should want them removed from society permanently. If that's controversial, so be it

(Emphasis mine)

You backpedaled after being called out, and it's particularly annoying because removing permanently can also mean extermination. But giving you grace and only interpreting it as rehabilitation (assuming the individual is deemed to no longer be a danger to others), it's still impossible to enforce until there's a crime.

Someone who undergoes resident rehabilitation as a pedophile and is successfully treated results in someone who is no longer a pedophile. That permanently removes the pedophile from society.

The requirement from the start was byte-for-byte identical output from both pipelines. The result was about 25,000 lines of Rust, and the entire port took about two weeks. The same work would have taken me multiple months to do by hand. We’ve verified that every AST produced by the Rust parser is identical to the C++ one, and all bytecode generated by the Rust compiler is identical to the C++ compiler’s output. Zero regressions across the board:

Seems like a non-issue.

treat and rid individuals of the severe mental illness

It's not a mental illness. If anything, it's a mental disorder or just a sexual orientation. And when exactly have we ever been able to get rid of a sexual preference? Is conversion therapy your goal? That shit doesn't work.

You seem to be making a lot of wrong assumptions here. Because just like men in the rapists example, pedophiles overwhelmingly are fit for society and don't need treatment or rehabilitation in the first place. And for the ones that do feel like they need help, it would actually be better to not shame and stigmatize them to actually give them the chance of trusting someone to talk about it.

You can't make someone "no longer a pedophile" any more than you can make someone "no longer gay/lesbian/bisexual/[insert any other sexual orientation]".

It’s not a mental illness. If anything, it’s a mental disorder

Those are the same thing. "A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability"

Most mental illnesses can be successfully treated, many live to tell the tale. Drug addicts who become treated are no longer addicts, sufferers of emotional cognitive disorders who become successfully treated are no longer emotionally suffering. Some disorders are treatment resistant, and afflicted individuals undergo life-long consistent maintenance therapy.

A sexual preference towards men, women, or nonbinary isn't a mental illness. A sexual preference to children is.

A sexual preference towards men, women, or nonbinary isn’t a mental illness. A sexual preference to children is. Refer to this for further explanation.

I thought I've read somewhere that "mental disorder" is a broader term, whereas "mental illness" was mostly referring to conditions that impact general behaviour and functioning. But okay, let's use them synonymously, in which case it's still not a severe mental illness that can be cured.

A sexual preference towards men, women, or nonbinary isn't a mental illness. A sexual preference to children is.

Even if go with this assumption, that doesn't mean it requires treatment (which is not really possible anyway), let alone forcefully.

Does a condition being considered a mental illness magically make it curable? Was homosexuality curable when it was still classified as a mental disorder? Not that I know of. But feel free to show me a reputable study claiming that is indeed possible to cure pedophilia or paraphilias in general.

Of course not, an individual with such a disorder can be successfully treated to reduce if not fully eliminate pedophilic urges or inclinations. Medications and treatments are available to reduce sexual libido and urges in afflicted individuals, as well as to rebuild the mental pathways from pedophilic to normophilic, without altering sexual orientation. A resource to consider is the Handbook of Clinical Sexuality for Mental Health Professionals by Stephen B Levine, Candace B Rice, Stanley E Althof. For a study, as you've requested, feel free to give Changes in Sexual Arousal as Measured by Penile Plethysmography in Men with Pedophilic Sexual Interest a cursory reading.