Today there are a lot of programming languages. Some of them are old and well-deserved, such as C / C ++, others are just trendy. But there are those who, in addition to fashion, novelty and popularity, are also very promising. And today we will talk about one such language. It is the language Rust (informally referred to as “Rusty”), which as of 2021 was the highest paying language in the world.
So, today we will talk in detail about rust programming hand guide from what features this language has, where and in what tasks it is used, what advantages and disadvantages it has. Go!
What is Rust?
The Rust programming language is a universal programming language developed by Mozilla. It is based on three “pillars” – speed, safety and ergonomics. This language is very young – it was released in 2015 (the first version was released on May 15), but it is actively developing. The authors position it as one of the likely heirs of C/C++. And there are many reasons for this.
Despite the novelty of the language, every 6 weeks there is a new release that adds new features. The development is very active, the rights to the language belong to the Rust Foundation, which was established by AWS, Huawei, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla. Note that between 2016 and 2020, Rust ranked first in the list of favorite languages in the annual Stack Overflow Developer Survey.
Features of the Rust language
The Rust programming language was originally designed to be fast and concise. Therefore, its first feature is a syntax that is similar to C syntax. Programs in this language also run quickly.
Another feature is the high level of data security in memory. The language itself manages the placement of data in memory using pointers. This avoids many stack overflow errors. For this, a memory management model based on safe parallel execution patterns is used.
In addition, the language has a powerful code analyzer that prevents memory leaks and warns errors when working with multithreading. Thus, Rust programs are not only fast, but also secure.
The language also does not have a garbage collection or garbage collector, which is present in many other languages. This technology automatically clears the memory of objects that are no longer needed. But Rust, as mentioned above, uses a pointer system, so garbage collection is simply not needed.
The Rust language is used not only for application programming, but also for systems programming. We will talk more about where and how it will be applied later, but for now we note that even the kernel of the operating system can be written in this language. At the moment, there is a project to translate the Linux kernel to Rust. In addition, in 2019, Microsoft began developing its own language based on Rust, which Windows could potentially translate into.
Language history
Mozilla employee Graydon Hoare took up the development of the language in his spare time 14 years ago, in 2006. He worked independently for three years, until Mozilla officially joined the work in 2009. In 2010 Rust was officially introduced.
The first alpha release of the language took place in 2012. Servo, an engine for web browsers, was developed on Rust. In 2013, Samsung joined the work on Servo, as a result of which the Servo code was ported to the ARM architecture.
Rust 1.0 was released in 2015. In its first year, Rust took bronze in the Favorite Programming Language poll on Stack Overflow. All subsequent years, Rust takes only the first place.
6 reasons to love the Rust language
- The presence of a single compiler, which includes a built-in package manager and their collector, a system for generating tests and documentation. All this is included in the basic package.
- Initially, a high level of security when working with memory. The system does not allow data segmentation errors when working with memory, which automatically increases the security of applications.
- Abstractions can be applied to the language that makes manual memory management easier.
- When compiling a program, many errors receive correction options, and errors in templates are clear and logical. That is, there is no such thing as in other languages, where you have to shovel the code in search of a problem.
- The language is well compatible with Mac and Unix-like systems, which makes it cross-platform.
- Memory pointers are used only in unsafe code. If the code is safe, then it uses only references to uniquely existing objects in memory.
Where is Rust needed?
Rust code follows the four main concepts in programming: procedural, parallel, functional, and OOP. Therefore, Rust is a versatile language that can be applied in many areas. For example:
- programming client applications and web servers;
- blockchain;
- creation of own OS;
- writing programs and applications for monitoring systems and servers;
- general purpose software development;
- creation of infrastructure;
- writing engines for browsers and games.
Differences of the Rust programming language from other types
The first version of the Rust programming language combined the speed and rich functionality of C++ with the robustness of Haskell. It was this task that the author set himself and devoted several years to its implementation.
Rust is a high-level language; it is presented as a compiled, system tool. Here’s what each feature means:
- Compilability . A program written in a language is a single file ready to run on any machine with a suitable operating system. That is, the installation of a compiler and a development environment is not required, as long as the compiled version is adapted to the computer.
- Consistency . The language allows you to write programs for all components of the system. That is, for operating systems, drivers and utility utilities. Rust is also suitable for writing common programs used in calculators, database management systems, and so on. All of them work very quickly and use the capabilities of iron to the maximum.
- Multi-paradigm . In particular, Rust combines several programming paradigms, namely OOP, procedural and functional programming. The latter is from Haskell, while the OPP is from C++.
Conclusion
Rust will become an increasingly popular language, and it is quite possible that, with proper development and improvements, it will be able to bypass today’s main competitors.
