215: Rust Is Overrated w/ Naman Goel

This week, Robbie and Adam talk with Naman Goel about the origins and evolution of StyleX, how it integrates with React and other frameworks, and the pros and cons of different programming languages like Rust, TypeScript, and Swift. They dive into the challenges of building performant, type-safe styling systems, the surprising complexity of theme APIs, designing for developer experience, and more.

In this episode:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (02:26) - Whiskey rating & review: Glenfiddich 12 Year Old single malt Scotch
• (09:13) - South Park, spy thrillers & sleeper hits you missed
• (11:20) - Flow vs TypeScript
• (14:59) - How CSS shaped Naman’s perspective on type systems
• (18:45) - How StyleX works—and why it’s different from Tailwind
• (21:02) - Tailwind Merge vs StyleX props: performance smackdown
• (22:16) - Real-world use case: when and why you’d want to merge styles
• (25:45) - Inside the making of StyleX and its powerful theming system
• (32:56) - Robbie and Adam wrangle Vue transitions in Astro
• (36:09) - GIF or JIF? SPA or “spa”?
• (40:36) - Building StarPod.dev: streaming audio across pages
• (42:30) - Can you reduce client-side router noise?
• (46:03) - Should you spec your idea or just blog it?
• (47:18) - Naman’s journey into writing web specs
• (48:44) - What is link delegation?
• (52:39) - Hot Take: Is Rust overrated?
• (01:02:17) - The dream language Naman wishes someone would build
• (01:04:57) - Are AI-generated programming languages just around the corner?
• (01:05:53) - A spicy take on CSS syntax and readability
• (01:06:27) - Is CSS finally catching up to StyleX?
• (01:07:43) - Plugs & where to follow Naman

Links

• Glenfiddich 12 Year Old single malt Scotch: https://shop.us.glenfiddich.com/products/glenfiddich-12-year-old
• South Park: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park
• Dungeons & Dragons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons
• Alien Earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien:_Earth
• Ozark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozark_(TV_series)
• Jason Bateman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Bateman
• Black Rabbit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rabbit
• Slow Horses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Horses
• Slow Horses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Horses
• Typescript: https://www.typescriptlang.org/
• StyleX: https://stylexjs.com/
• React: https://react.dev/
• Tailwind CSS: https://tailwindcss.com/
• SolidJS: https://www.solidjs.com/
• Svelte: https://svelte.dev/
• Vue: https://vuejs.org/
• Astro: https://astro.build/
• QuickJS: https://github.com/quickjs-ng/quickjs
• Ember: https://emberjs.com/
• Angular: https://angular.dev/
• Vanilla Extract: https://vanilla-extract.style/
• Chrome: https://www.google.com/chrome/
• PHP: https://www.php.net/
• Figma: https://www.figma.com/
• Theme UI: https://theme-ui.com/
• Stitches: https://stitches.dev/
• Starpod.dev: https://starpod.dev/
• Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/
• Rails: https://rubyonrails.org/
• Livewire: https://laravel-livewire.com/
• Jason Miller - Application Holotypes: A Guide to Architecture Decisions: https://jasonformat.com/application-holotypes/
• morphdom: https://github.com/patrick-steele-idem/morphdom
• HTMX: https://htmx.org/
• React Miami: https://www.reactmiami.com/
• CSS-Tricks: https://css-tricks.com/
• Swift: https://www.swift.org/
• Python: https://www.python.org/
• C++: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp
• Go: https://go.dev/
• esbuild: https://esbuild.github.io/
• OCaml: https://ocaml.org/
• Prettier: https://prettier.io/
• Haskell: https://www.haskell.org/
• Elm: https://elm-lang.org/
• CoffeeScript: http://coffeescript.org/
• LightningScript: https://lightningscript.dev/
• Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/
• Chris Coyier: https://x.com/chriscoyier
• React Summit: https://reactsummit.com/
• Solenoid: https://github.com/nmn/solenoid

Connect with Naman

• Website: https://nmn.sh/
• X / Twitter: https://x.com/naman34
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nmn.bsky.social

Connect with the hosts

• Robbie Wagner: https://x.com/RobbieTheWagner
• Chuck Carpenter: https://x.com/CharlesWthe3rd
• Adam Argyle: https://x.com/argyleink

Subscribe and stay in touch

• Website: https://whiskey.fm
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/id1552776603
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19jiuHAqzeKnkleQUpZxDf
• Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1552776603
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhiskeyWebAndWhatnot

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