Mozilla, Samsung to Collaborate on New Programming Language, Browser Engine
Mozilla Research is collaborating with Samsung to create a new programming language called Rust and a browser engine based on the language called Servo. "Servo is an attempt to rebuild the Web browser from the ground up on modern hardware, rethinking old assumptions along the way," blogged Mozilla CTO Brendan Eich. "This means addressing the causes of security vulnerabilities while designing a platform that can fully utilize the performance of tomorrow's massively parallel hardware to enable new and richer experiences on the Web. To those ends, Servo is written in Rust, a new, safe systems language developed by Mozilla along with a growing community of enthusiasts."
While similar to the C family of languages, Rust focuses on security and is designed to be "safe by default." According to a Mozilla spokesperson, "Rust is an attempt to create a modern language that can replace C++ for many uses while being less prone to the types of errors that lead to crashes and security vulnerabilities. Because Servo is designed from the ground up using Rust as its main implementation language, Servo will also tend to avoid sources of bugs and security vulnerabilities associated with incorrect memory management common to browsers implemented in unsafe languages such as C++, resulting in a faster, more secure experience for people browsing the Web."