Rust Programming Language: What It Is, How It Works, and Why Learn It

Key takeaways

• Rust is a newer programming language introduced in 2010 to change how developers handle memory safety, concurrency, and speed.

• Rust use cases include game development, web development, network applications, and AI and machine learning.

• Learning the Rust programming language allows you to program memory without garbage collection and helps you create bug-free code with its memory safety features.

Many tech companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Google incorporate Rust into their programming pipelines to leverage its memory management and compiler safety features. Discover more about the Rust programming language, what problems it solves, how it works, and how you can start experimenting with it. If you’re ready to learn more about programming, consider enrolling in the Microsoft Back-End Developer Professional Certificate. You’ll learn the skills you need to start your career as a back-end developer, with no experience required.

What is Rust programming language?

Rust is a relatively new programming language that is growing in popularity for its ability to overcome safety, concurrency, and speed challenges that can disadvantage other languages. According to the 2025 Stack Overflow Technology Report, Rust has retained its title as the most admired language, with a 72 percent success score among developers, and the fourteenth most popular language overall [1]

Why was Rust created?

Rust was created as a language that developers could use to program memory or computer processors without the heavy resource consumption of garbage collection required by popular programming languages. Introduced in 2010, Rust began as a personal project by Mozilla developer Graydon Hoare in 2006, before Mozilla sponsored it and helped it enter the mainstream.

What are the key features and benefits of Rust?

Companies worldwide use Rust, from start-ups to large corporations, for its key benefits: fast, efficient performance and reliability, plus memory safety that eliminates the need for garbage collection.

Performance and efficiency

Rust is known for efficiency and performance. For example:

• It is as fast as C++, but without runtime or garbage collection.

• You can run it on embedded devices and integrate it with other languages.

• it is highly efficient at multiple tasks, such as building code and libraries through an integrated package manager.

Memory safety without garbage collection

Memory safety is a key feature of Rust, and it excels at preventing bugs that affect reliability and are common in older languages. Other programming languages use garbage collection, which is a way of reclaiming memory that is no longer used. Unfortunately, this slows performance. Rust, however, uses an approach known as ownership, where the compiler helps manage memory through a series of rules. Ownership is a relatively new programming concept that can take time to get used to, but once you master it, it is efficient and very safe.

Concurrency and reliability

Rust manages concurrency, the ability to run multiple tasks at once, through superior memory management that helps you write bug-free code. Rust's ownership model allows you to detect potential concurrency issues in advance, so that you can rectify them at compile time before the code gives a runtime error.

Developer experience and tooling

Developers with varying levels of experience can collaborate in Rust without needing extensive bug-detection experience. Rust's compiler helps teams catch bugs by refusing to compile code when a bug is present.

Developer teams at all levels can also make use of a catalog of tools, including:

• Cargo: Rust's included dependency manager and build tool

• Rustup: Toolchain management and installation command

• Clippy: Supports best practice

• Rustfmt: Allows auto-formatting

Is it easy to learn Rust?

Developers consider Rust to be a more difficult language to use if you're not used to concepts like ownership and borrowing. You'll find an active community that offers support and answers your questions, but it's still smaller than those for other, more established languages and may not offer the support packages and resources you're looking for. Once you learn the basics, Rust offers the ease of programming languages like Python, C#, and Java.

What is Rust used for?

Rust’s features and benefits, including minimal debugging, increased security, and excellent memory, lend themself to a range of uses:

• Web development: Rust is becoming more popular given its bug-free features and excellent memory performance without using garbage collection. Some frameworks you may use to develop web applications in Rust include Actix Web, Yew, and Rocket.

• AI and machine learning: Rust handles parallel processing well with its ownership and compile-time memory safety, which is important for machine learning applications. This, along with its security and performance features, makes it a strong option.

• Game development: Along with C and C++, Rust is a language you can use for game development. If you know C or C++, Rust is easy to adapt to because it is similar, but with the benefits of increased security, lower memory use, and less debugging time.

• Networking applications: Rust is excellent for networking applications because of the emphasis on security, reliability, and high-speed performance.

Read more: What Is a Game Developer (and How to Become One)

Rust vs. other programming languages: Python, C++, and Go

While Rust is popular and known for bug-free code, optimal performance, and memory functions, developers still use more established programming languages, such as Python and C++, more widely.

Rust vs. Python

Python is a popular language with a range of libraries and ease of use. While lesser known, Rust is significantly faster than Python because it is a low-level programming language that gives you more control over memory management. In contrast, Python is a high-level programming language that automatically manages memory and excels in web applications, automation, machine learning, and data analysis.

Rust vs. C++

C++ is one of the oldest programming languages, inspiring many newer options, including Rust. This means they are similar in many ways. Both have steep learning curves, but if you know one, you'll find the other easier to learn. They are also similar in performance, with C++ faring slightly better. However, Rust is still developing, and its slightly slower speed compared to C++ allows it to check code at compile time, while C++ code relies on runtime accuracy to run properly.

Rust vs. Go

Go is Google's programming language and has features similar to C, including garbage collection and memory safety. Rust also has strong memory safety features, and the two languages have similar performance, but they have different features. Go excels at programming microservices and cloud applications, whereas Rust excels in embedded systems, systems development, and performance-focused solutions.

Where is Rust used in the real world?

Major companies including Microsoft, Meta, Discord, and Google use Rust to reduce memory vulnerabilities and improve performance in production systems.

• Microsoft: Microsoft uses Rust to reduce memory vulnerabilities in low-level programming activities like Hyper-V and Azure Cloud projects.

• Facebook (Meta): Facebook improved the compiler feedback loop to reduce bugs by writing the back-end in Rust. This allows bugs to be caught at compile time. It also actively supports the open-source development of the language.

• Discord: Rust is replacing some C++ to improve performance, avoid garbage collection, and reduce memory usage.

• Google: Android developers at Google use Rust to reduce bugs and improve pipeline efficiency.

How to start learning Rust

To start learning Rust, begin by installing Rust on your computer by downloading it through the rustup command-line tool.

On Linux or macOS, enter the command:

$ curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh

Once downloaded, you will need a linker. If you don’t already have one, you can install a C compiler compatible with your operating system, which will come with a linker.

If you are using Windows, you can go to https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install and follow the setup instructions. The installer will prompt you to install Visual Studio, which comes with the linker and standard libraries.

Once you have downloaded Rust, you can begin using it. Rust is often considered a more challenging language to learn, but if you have C++ experience, you might find it easier. Whether you have programming experience or not, you'll find a range of options for learning Rust, depending on your learning preferences.

• Read “The Book”: The Rust Programming Language, also known as The Book, is a resource written by Rust users and a great place to start. This comprehensive downloadable resource provides explanations of what you might use Rust for, to more complex examples of how to use it, and exercises to complete.

• Learn core programming: Developing your programming skills in general and becoming familiar with other programming languages is a good starting point for learning Rust.

• Hands-on projects: You’ll find a range of open-source projects online to help you practice Rust programming for various uses. The Rustlings is a collection of exercises to help you read and begin writing Rust code. Platforms like GitHub also offer a number of resources and practice scenarios.

• Take a course: You’ll find a number of courses online, from short projects to certificates and certifications, to support you in learning Rust. Check out the Python and Rust with Linux Command Line Tools by Duke University.

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