In this article:
#1 — What is Rust programming language?
#2 — What can be written in Rust?
#3 — What makes Rust unique?
#4 — What are the advantages of Rust?
#5 — What are the use cases for Rust?
#6 — Is Rust good for blockchain?
#7 — Is Rust language easy to learn?
#8 — Are Rust developers in demand?
#9 — Takeaways
Rust is used to create powerful and fast systems, programs, and drivers without performance loss or excessive memory usage.
Rust is suitable for developers and students alike for learning purposes. This article will answer the question, «Should I learn Rust in 2022?»
What is Rust programming language?
Rust is a relatively new programming language. By its vocation, it is a multiparadigmatic, statically typed language. That is, every variable in Rust must have a constant type known at the compilation moment.
Rust is open source and completely free.
The Rust language is somewhat similar to C and C++ because it was created based on them, but in terms of performance and safety, it surpasses both. It copes with its responsibilities perfectly. Rust is a general-purpose programming language.
There are multiple general-purpose languages such as C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, and Rust. Maybe you have a question like, «Suppose I know a certain general-purpose language. Why should I be curious about Rust?».
The first reason is that there will be greater job opportunities since Rust is used in almost all development areas. The second reason is the convenience process of programming. In this article, we will explain why this is so.
What can be written in Rust?
The Rust programming language is suitable for projects that require stability and reliability under critically high loads. Programs in Rust provide high performance even in critical situations.
Rust can be used when working on:
- Operating systems
- Web servers
- System programs
- Browser engines
- Games
- VR
- Cybersecurity products
- Backend
- Frontend
- Blockchain
As you can see, Rust can be used for a wide range of projects. You may choose the most interesting one. Or try all the project types to upskill.
Emphasizing once again, using Rust is impractical for creating simple applications with no need for micro-optimization. It's suitable for highly loaded projects and peer-to-peer ones.
What makes Rust unique?
The Rust language is not something new. It incorporates many methods from older languages, mainly C++, and improves their security. The C++ language is a precise programming language requiring high competence and attention from the developer.
Rust frees developers from needing to keep in their heads all the relationships between components and their potential interaction issues.
This language's goal is to reduce the impact of human error with a very smart compiler.
Rust takes a relatively unique memory management approach, including the idea of owning memory. Roughly speaking, it keeps track of who can read and write to memory. It knows when a program is using memory and immediately frees it as soon as it is no longer needed. This ensures proper memory handling during the compiling process and makes memory-related bugs impossible at run time. You don't need to monitor the memory manually. The compiler takes care of that.
Thus, Rust focuses on code reliability and security. It tries to prevent errors immediately at the compilation stage.
What are the advantages of Rust?
The phenomenon of Rust is due to the following advantages:
Speed
Binaries are self-contained, with no external runtime apart from what the OS might deliver. The generated Rust code performs as well as equivalent C or C++ code.
Memory safe
Rust’s syntax and metaphors guarantee that everyday memory-related troubles in different programming languages (null, data races, etc.) never go into production. The compiler flags them and forces the programmer to fix them before the app can run.
Low-overhead
The way ownership is transferred between objects is precisely controlled by the compiler. As a result, there are no traps like memory-allocation errors at runtime. Rust does not require garbage-collected memory control, as in the case of Go or C#.
Easy to deploy
All Rust developers need for deployment comes in the same package.
Cross-platform
Rust functions on all three primary platforms: Linux, Windows, and MacOS. It allows you to write programs for all parts of the system. That is, for operating systems, drivers, and service utilities. Rust is also suitable for writing ordinary programs used in calculators, database management systems, etc. They all run very fast and make the most of your hardware.
Powerful language features
The creators of the language preferred composition over imitation and implemented it through traits. Pointers are present only in code that is not subject to additional protection, i.e., inside unsafe {} sections. To replace them, safe code uses references, which provide correct pointers to existing objects.
Useful features
Rust has clean, transparent documentation that is easy to learn. When coding with Rust, it is easy to generate documentation. If a person publishes code for reuse, they can discover documentation for it on docs.rs.
The Rust team is working hard to make this programming language highly accessible to beginners and anyone interested in learning it.
What are the use cases for Rust?
There is no pure operating system on Rust yet, but there is Redox — a Unix-like OS based on a micro-kernel with over 80% of the software written on Rust. There are also other projects where Rust is currently showing success:
- Mozilla Firefox. They use Rust for the compiler and cache distribution. Developers describe their use of Rust as a decision that made Mozilla Firefox more reliable, easy to maintain, and even faster.
- Dropbox. They use Rust for their file synchronization engine. Developers say Rust has been a force multiplier for Dropbox. More than performance, its ergonomics and focus on correctness has helped them tame sync’s complexity.
- Cloudflare. Developers have been using Rust for core edge logic and as a replacement for C. They chose Rust because of the mixed set of performance requirements, memory safety, and low memory use.
- Discord. Developers switched to Rust from Go and speeded up the work because there is no garbage collector on Rust. They have been using Rust on game SDK, video capturing and encoding for Go Live, and Elixir NIFs.
- Solana. This blockchain has been entirely developed on Rust, resulting in superiority over other blockchains.
You may be surprised to learn that the quickest blockchain in existence was developed on Rust. But for us, it is no wonder the developers of Solana chose it. Thanks to its unique features, this programming language allowed them to build a high-speed and safe blockchain.
Solana creators from Geneva used Rust to guarantee the highest levels of protection and speed. They even denied some of the language features for the sake of efficiency. As a result, they developed a blockchain with a capacity of 710,000 transactions per second on a typical gigabit network.
Is Rust good for blockchain?
Yes, Rust is even great for blockchain development. Just look at this list of blockchain projects created on Rust:
- Parity.io
- Polkadot.network
- NEAR Protocol
- Exonum
- MaidSafe
- Solana
Preference for Rust in blockchain development is conditioned by the memory management approach compiled alongside development, resulting in a meager runtime expense. This approach makes Rust an ideal option for crypto development as programmers can develop cryptographic functions quickly and securely with this language.
Rust is also ideal for developing nodes. Something like C or C++ demands too much time to bypass fatal bugs, and something like Java can't offer high performance and security.
Another piece of evidence that Rust expands horizons in blockchain development is its use in Web2 and Web3 projects. Knowing how to program in Rust allows you to master many popular blockchain technologies, including Solana technology. After all, there is a shortage of Solana developers on the market. As a result, companies are willing to train Solana programmers themselves in Solana programming with Rust.
