I am very grateful for NEAR’s invaluable support to AssemblyScript, it really makes a difference as we wouldn’t be where we are today without you, but I am a bit surprised by two points.
First, that Rust isn’t already the default, as a stable foundation while WebAssembly is still an MVP, also given how slow the specification is progressing. WebAssembly hasn’t made any progress to help managed languages yet, and expecting AssemblyScript to compete toe to toe with a systems language at this point in time is unrealistic, just as it is unrealistic to expect AssemblyScript and its very small team to compete with Rust/LLVM in general. I mean, we are doing our best, often beyond a healthy limit, but there is a difference in multiple magnitudes of financial support, human resources and influence on the specification process between the Rust and AS ecosystems still. In fact, comparing the two for stability or applicability in the current state of affairs is starting to do more harm than it helps, because AssemblyScript and its people can only lose.
Secondly, that upping your support isn’t an option given how much you rely on it. It would already help a ton for example to assemble a temporary but dedicated team testing the hell out of the compiler and its standard library and PRing the tests upstream so you can be certain that it meets critical demands in production, no matter how boring that work is. Not maintaining a fork, no uncommon code style, and no outdated compiler versions, as it happened in the past. I do agree of course that the string compare bug was particularly embarrassing, yet it not being found earlier is a statement with multiple dimensions. With broader adoption it would have been found earlier, as it would have been found earlier with focused adoption.
I know that this may not be what you folks want to hear from me, and that it may fuel the fire of burning AS down at NEAR in those wanting to, but perhaps my honest opinion will help you make a forward-facing decision that will ultimately result in your success. I definitely owe you that.