Rust is a systems programming language focused on safety, concurrency, and performance. Created by Graydon Hoare at Mozilla, it prevents memory errors at compile time without garbage collection, addressing C and C++‘s fundamental safety issues.
Origins
Hoare started Rust as a personal project in 2006. Mozilla began sponsoring development in 2009, seeing Rust as a way to write safer browser code. The first stable release came in 2015.
Key Innovations
Rust’s borrow checker prevents memory errors:
- Ownership: Each value has a single owner
- Borrowing: References have rules preventing data races
- Lifetimes: Compiler tracks how long references are valid
- No null: Option type forces handling of missing values
Zero-Cost Abstractions
Rust provides high-level features without runtime cost:
- Pattern matching compiles to efficient code
- Generics monomorphized at compile time
- No garbage collector—predictable performance
- Traits enable polymorphism without overhead
Adoption
Rust has seen remarkable adoption:
- Linux kernel accepting Rust code
- Microsoft using Rust for Windows components
- AWS using Rust for Firecracker and more
- Most loved language in Stack Overflow surveys for years