this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2025
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PieFed is written in Python, and so has already managed to surpass Lemmy in available features (by a lot, and new ones continue to be added practically weekly), despite Lemmy having an enormous head start. Lemmy is written in Rust and even high experienced and capable C++ developers do not know how to work with it, plus the language itself is not finished.
Tbh, there are still some things that Lemmy does better, like having a post + comment preview, and Lemmy has a really excellent search feature (though you don't even need an account to use that...). However, PieFed will continue to run laps around Lemmy for the foreseeable future, as feature requests languish for literally many years (not joking here) in Lemmy, but people are willing (and capable) to volunteer and they show up in PieFed quickly.
The best way to learn about PieFed, as you already saw, is just to go check it out, but be prepared to fall in love instantly, bc those features are truly amazing! ๐๐คฉ
Edit: e.g. https://piefed.social/ .
that's just plain false. It's easier to use Rust than C++ because most of the pitfalls are eliminated, and many tools helping to get things done are built in nd have good quality. C++ devs just have a hard time getting used to the differences. It's also questionable whether rust is unfinished. It's not like its "beta" or "pre-release", and if your point is that it's still getting new features, then consider that C++ and Python does too.
python is better for prototyping, and it can be better for tools and simpler software. but if you think Python is better for "production" generally, then look at Matrix Synapse.
that being said, I agree that Rust is more complicated than other languages, but not by a large margin. but yeah, it matters for beginner friendliness, and I would never recommend Rust for someone who is just a beginner in programming; but neither would I recommend C or C++ for them.
though to be honest, I would be happier if the defacto beginner friendly language would be something with stricter types.
While I come from more of the Rust sort of side of things, and I agree with you that I'd rather have widely-used languages having static typing (though I've written more Python than Rust), it's also true that different languages have different degrees of uptake in different areas.
As things stand, Piefed, Lemmy, and Mbin all have an integrated Web frontend and backend, with third party client support via API. That is, they work kind of like Reddit does, not Usenet or IRC servers, where the backends and the frontends are entirely different projects.
I'm confident that Python has vastly more uptake for frontend Web development than Rust does. That means that it's going to be way easier to find contributors who understand how to build a Web UI who know Python than who know Rust.
If there were a split from this approach
that is, if the UI became decoupled from the backends, and users just used Aphrodite or mlym or whatever, and the backend wound up looking something like Usenet server software,
then I think that there might be a stronger argument for doing the backend in something like Rust, depending upon how it was structured.
But I think that Rust probably creates a high bar for attracting front-end contributors who are knowledgeable in building Web systems.
I'd also point out that Reddit started out in Common Lisp
Paul Graham, who was involved with its early days, is a huge fan of Common Lisp
but eventually was rewritten in Python.
EDIT: There's also Sublinks, in Java, but it doesn't look like it's getting a lot of activity.
I was writing a comment about how miss the "Top" sorting options. Then I check and there they are. I'm sure they weren't there not that long ago, which kinda proves your point ๐
For a brief time they had been moved to a sub menu, but it was annoying and so they were shuffled around again.
PieFed.social is the "bleeding edge" where all the newest experimental stuff is tried out, but the other instances are more stable e.g. https://feddit.online/ .
Ah that makes sense. I'm not using it enough to notice the subtle changes over time.
Very cool, thank you!
Piefed has just recently started opening the api access on Piefed.social and Feddit.online!
https://piefed.social/post/817564
Well, that may be where I end up, it looks nice.