LLM and full rewrite are a recipe for cooking something that still has flaws but also doesn't work that well. The root cause is that PDF is an old format from a more innocent era. A new document standard that keeps up with the technical and security advances, learns about the lessons PDF taught us, and allows for easy conversion from old PDFs, would be the ideal solution.
replyWho am I kidding, I think the PDF format will outlive us.
> PDF is an old format from a more innocent era
replyif apple parsed pdf with (js, swift, rust) none of this would be possible. the problem is memory-unsafe code.
> if apple parsed pdf with (js, swift, rust) none of this would be possible
replyInterpreters and compilers can have bugs. Bugs can cause memory safety issues.
A full rewrite of what? iOS? I hope you’re kidding
replyApple can rewrite the media and PDF libraries in no time in Swift/Rust, they have tons of money to waste.
replyIn no time? What are you talking about? It’d take months even with llms for it to be fully polished and tested if they started now.
replyThat is essentially "in no time" on Apple's release cadence.
replyIf anybody has the resources to do it, tho, they do
replyThey have the means, they have the motivation
Lately they have fewer and fewer excuses not to