Performance and safety are two significant advantages of Rust, but for me, these are not the most critical factors. In my work environment, performance bottlenecks are rare, and safety issues are usually only given serious consideration in the mature stages of a project. During rapid iterations and the pursuit of an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), development speed is the primary concern. Dynamic languages such as JavaScript, Python, Ruby, and PHP have demonstrated their value in this regard.
Stability and Crash Rate
Among the many programming languages I have used, Rust stands out with its excellent stability and the lowest crash rate. Traditional languages like Java, Python, and JavaScript often encounter issues like NullPointerException or handling undefined variables due to ineffective management of null values. In contrast, Rust uses Option and Result enums to clearly indicate potentially null situations, significantly reducing the likelihood of unexpected crashes. Additionally, tools like Clippy allow developers to configure rules to avoid using methods like unwrap or expect, further minimizing risks.
Powerful Type System
While weakly typed languages like JavaScript (paired with TypeScript) and Python can accelerate the development process, this often comes with a fragile type system. For team collaboration, clear interfaces are crucial. Although type annotations have been introduced, their non-mandatory nature makes it difficult to achieve the strict type constraints found in languages like Rust or Go. This means that without a robust testing framework, it’s hard to fully trust code written in these languages. Therefore, a mandatory type system provides stricter parameter restrictions, enhancing code reliability.
Rich Language Expressiveness
Before switching to Rust, my primary programming language was Go. Go is well-known for its simple syntax, only introducing generics support in version 1.18. While this design makes Go code easy to understand, it also limits expressiveness, making the writing process somewhat cumbersome. In comparison, Rust offers richer syntactic features and “syntactic sugar,” which not only enhances language expressiveness but also makes coding more enjoyable.
The Power of the Compiler
Writing Rust code can be described as a game of wits with the Rust compiler. For beginners, this process may be challenging, but once these obstacles are overcome, the rewards are substantial. Once the code passes the compiler’s validation, the probability of runtime errors decreases significantly. Even if one lacks confidence in their programming skills, they can rely on the compiler to ensure program correctness.
Borrow Checker: Challenges and Countermeasures
Although ownership is a hallmark feature of Rust, I believe the borrow checker is the true challenge. Often, what is referred to as “battling the compiler” is actually combating the borrow checker. To simplify the development process, I sometimes choose to use the clone operation to bypass complex borrowing rules. However, as my understanding of Rust deepens, I find that while this method is simple, it may not be optimal in the long run, and mastering the workings of the borrow checker is essential.
In summary, Rust excels not only in performance and safety but also possesses many other appealing features. Whether in embedded device development, network service construction, or WebAssembly applications, Rust demonstrates broad application prospects. Of course, I hope that Rust will continue to optimize its learning curve, making it easier for developers without a C/C++ background to get started.