For decades, I’ve been immersed in the world of programming, starting my journey in my teens with BASIC. University days brought ALGOL, and my early career led me to embedded real-time systems, initially programmed in assembler. Over the years, I navigated a diverse landscape of languages – PL/M, Coral, Lucol, Ada, and eventually C and C++.
Through this extensive experience, a recurring thought emerged: programming languages, at their core, share more similarities than differences. The constant cycle of learning new syntax, semantics, libraries, and tooling for each project became tiresome. Frankly, disillusionment set in. It felt like a repetitive and somewhat pointless exercise.
Then came Javascript and node.js a few years ago. Finally, a language that introduced genuinely novel semantic features. Lambda functions, closures, and the event-driven model were a revelation. It was a breath of fresh air, an eye-opener in my world of embedded real-time systems, even if these concepts weren’t entirely new within the broader spectrum of languages like Lisp, Scheme, and functional programming.
Now, Rust enters the picture. It’s only the second language in my long career that has presented truly new and profoundly useful features. The concept of the borrow checker and its ability to prevent dangerous aliasing is remarkable. Equally significant is the absence of undefined behaviors that plague languages like C and C++. Furthermore, Rust’s commitment to being a practical systems programming language, delivering performance with minimal overhead and no runtime, resonates deeply with my background.
So, while learning Rust may present a learning curve, especially initially, for anyone already proficient in C++, the transition shouldn’t be an insurmountable challenge.
A crucial aspect of adopting any new language is mastering its libraries and the broader ecosystem. In this regard, Rust’s crate system shines. The wealth of available crates and their relative ease of discovery and use far surpasses anything I’ve experienced in the C++ world.
In conclusion, for seasoned programmers seeking a language that offers genuine innovation and addresses critical challenges in software development, learning Rust is an investment well worth considering. It’s a language that not only brings fresh ideas to the table but also reinforces the fundamental principles of robust and efficient programming.
