Bucharest, Romania - June 04, 2022: View of Microsoft Romania headquarters in City Gate Towers situated in Free Press Square, in Bucharest, Romania.
A recent LinkedIn post by Microsoft engineer Galen Hunt sparked significant discussion regarding the future of programming languages at the tech giant. Hunt suggested a goal to “eliminate every line of C and C++ from Microsoft by 2030,” which was interpreted by many as a definitive plan for the company. However, he quickly clarified that this initiative is part of a research project rather than an established company directive.
In his initial post, Hunt announced an open position on his team to facilitate the transition from C and C++ to the Rust programming language. The role aims to “evolve and augment our infrastructure” by developing tools that can translate Microsoft’s major C and C++ systems into Rust. He noted that a “powerful code processing infrastructure” is already in place to support this initiative.
Clarification on Project Scope
Following the ensuing speculation, Hunt updated his LinkedIn post to emphasize that “Windows is *NOT* being rewritten in Rust with AI.” He reiterated that the focus of his team’s work is purely research-oriented. The mission involves building capabilities that will allow Microsoft and its clients to address technical debt on a large scale. This entails leveraging AI to assist in code modifications, with an emphasis on improving code understanding.
Hunt explained the ambitious goal of his team, stating, “Our North Star is ‘1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code.'” This objective highlights the scale of the project and the significant advancements they aim to achieve through their algorithmic infrastructure. According to him, this infrastructure creates a scalable graph over source code, facilitating efficient processing.
Despite the clarification, it remains true that Microsoft is actively pursuing a transition towards Rust. The company has invested $10 million to promote Rust as its “1st class language” for engineering systems. This strategic move corresponds with broader industry trends, as companies like Google have acknowledged the challenges associated with memory safety bugs in C and C++. Google has recognized Rust as a valuable addition to its Android Open Source Project, alongside Java and Kotlin.
As the landscape of programming languages continues to evolve, the efforts by Microsoft to embed Rust within its infrastructure signal a significant shift in software development practices. The transition aims to mitigate risks associated with legacy programming languages while fostering innovation through more modern coding standards.
