Anders Hejlsberg explains why the 10x-faster TypeScript compiler was rewritten in Go, not Rust
rseroter · x · 2026-10-18
In a podcast interview, TypeScript and Ccreator Anders Hejlsberg details the Go rewrite of the TypeScript compiler:
- Performance: the rewritten compiler is 10x faster.
- Why not Rust: two reasons — no garbage collection (memory managed via the borrow checker), and the borrow checker forbids circular data structures, while the compiler is "chock-full" of parent-pointer trees, recursive types, and cross-referencing symbols. Choosing Rust would have meant solving a batch of new problems, not just porting code: "We tried, and it just wasn't feasible."
- The episode also covers why they didn't use LLMs for the migration and his predictions on AI's impact on software engineering.
Available on YouTube/Spotify with a full transcript.
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