Comment by skeledrew
6 hours ago
> one that an unsupervised LLM rewrite is probably not even going to attempt.
Why not? A complete test suite exists, so it just boils down to "reimplement this code to reduce the number of 'unsafe' references, while keeping the tests passing" (the last part isn't even needed since Claude loves to run tests and linters anyway).
An LLM definitely can do that work, but LLMs have a tendency to follow the path of least resistance unless you force them to do things properly and carefully supervise them.
> LLMs have a tendency to follow the path of least resistance
That's a really strong motivation for the Rust port. It's literally impossible to take a path not leading to an unacceptable outcome because the Rust compiler fails the compile if code no longer marked "unsafe" is still actually unsafe, and the tests fail if the implementation is incorrect. The compiler actively helps to force the LLM to do things properly.
…only if you actually force the LLM not to use `unsafe` somehow! And one must remember that `unsafe` can have all sorts of non-local effects. One way to be maliciously compliant (or in the LLM's case, I guess it's more incompetence than malice) is to make a “safe” function that does an `unsafe` operation for you, and then replace every usage of that unsafe operation with your “safe” function. You can remove hundreds of unsafe blocks that way without any improvement in safety.