[Gene_Parmesan]

So isn't it on the programmer to ensure the safety checks are enabled if appropriate? I agree with the gist of your statement, I'm just not sure how this is the responsibility of the language itself. It ships with the option to build via a safe mode. I don't think it's a moral imperative of the language designer to ship without an unsafe mode. Even rust has unsafe blocks.

In most engineering professions, it's the engineer's responsibility to ensure appropriate levels of safety, not the CAD software used to build the blueprints. But every situation doesn't have the same level of safety required; backyard sheds don't have the same needs as skyscrapers.

[titzer]

Most engineering disciplines are considerably more regulated than software development, and for good reason; bridges and skyscrapers falling down can kill people. Even electrical engineering and device manufacturing have to fit in with standards that address shock hazard and EMF interference.

I actually do think it is the responsibility of the language and runtime system to ensure some base-level safety of programs. The one constant over the years is that programmers keep making mistakes. No matter how much they keep yelling "trust us", they (we) just keep screwing up. That's not to pillory us programmers. It's just the facts that everyone screws up. In some sense, engineering is putting processes and procedures and checks in place that move human fallibility out of the critical load-bearing situations so that a simple whoops or memory slip doesn't kill people or ruin things.