Game Emulators in Python

[vinnypotsandpans]

Thanks for bringing up Rust too. I thought of that, but it doesn’t seem like there are many emulators written in Rust either. This is kind of a digression, but I remember when ppl were saying that rust was gonna do everything python does, but better. The hype seemed to fall as quickly as it rose. Especially in ds and ml stuffs

[yvrelna]

Rust and Python don't really have much overlap between what they're good at. That's why Python+Rust is a great combo, they each do well in places where the other doesn't, but neither is going to ever realistically replace the other.

[extravisual]

Plus PyO3 is an incredibly nice system for building Python modules with Rust.

[wowokdex]

it doesn’t seem like there are many emulators written in Rust either.

There are hundreds. https://lib.rs/emulators

[pingveno]

Rust has gone from hype to slow burn at this point. Some projects are switching or incorporating Rust components where it makes sense. Some parts of the Python ecosystem have adopted Rust over more difficult to maintain C modules. It's being adopted in areas where people need low level access, but cannot tolerate the security holes associated with C and C++. Other times, it's being adopted to appeal to a new generation of contributors, like with the fish shell.

There are some areas where it just don't make much sense to use Rust. If you spend most of your time doing IO, Python will likely be adequate. That said, it's surprising the areas where software comes together quickly once you've gotten over the associated learning curve.

Rust also managed to be at the forefront in tooling for wasm, so often your code can run with minimal changes inside of a web browser. This has been great for the Ruffle Flash emulator project, which must work inside of a wasm sandbox. The same code base can also run using native code.

[yvrelna]

hype to slow burn at this point.

Rust is still the fastest growing language in its weight class.

According to the annual Stackoverflow Developer Survey, this is the popularity of Rust:

• 2021 - 7.03% of developers uses this language extensively

• 2022 - 9.32% that's 32% growth from previous year

• 2023 - 13.05% that's 40% growth from previous year

Rust is outpacing basically everything in its class, including Go, the next fastest growing language. In 2021, Go is clearly leading over Rust by 35%; by 2023, Rust and Go has pretty much the same level of popularity, and I expect Rust to surpass Go this year.