Elon Musk on Error Messages, Rust, and Why C Still Rules on Specialized Hardware
Elon Musk discusses the importance of clear error messages, praises Rust's compiler advances, and argues that for peak performance on dedicated hardware, a custom‑compiled C solution remains essential, while his companies also rely on C++ and Python.
On February 24, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, shared his thoughts on programming languages, echoing OpenAI CTO Greg Brockman's tweet that clear error messages are often undervalued.
A good error message should clearly indicate (a) what the user did, (b) what inputs are acceptable, and (c) how to resolve the issue.
Musk agreed and added that compilers could be improved, but current investment is insufficient.
In the comments, a user named @jack claimed Rust has already solved many compiler problems. Musk replied that he is a fan of Rust for its extensibility, yet for maximum performance on dedicated hardware the C language with a custom compiler remains the optimal choice, especially for high‑frame‑rate inference computers in cars.
He also noted that his companies primarily use C++ and Python, and he warned that C should not be used unless the code is specifically optimized for the target hardware.
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