The programming language Rust insists on topping surveys as the world's most beloved programming language year after year. More than 80% of developers currently working with Rust want to continue working with it. There are several good reasons for this immense popularity. Let's take a closer look at what Rust is, why it's so loved, and what it's used for. But also, why Rust is such a great programming language for performance-demanding applications and app development.

The story behind Rust – from a broken elevator to a celebrated and beloved programming language.

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The idea for Rust was born in 2006 when software developer Graydon Hoare came home from his job at Mozilla and was forced to take the stairs to his 21st-floor apartment because the elevator was out of order. The elevator malfunction was due to software crashes, which had happened repeatedly. As a developer, Hoare realized that these types of problems often stem from how a program manages memory. The kind of crash that rendered the elevator unusable stemmed from the software being written in C++ or C. While these programming languages were indeed fast, they were prone to memory bugs that caused problems. In contrast, more secure languages like Python and Java were slow and memory-intensive. Frustrated by the situation, Hoare began working on creating a programming language that would be both fast and secure.

Hoare wanted to create a language that eliminated potential errors already at compile time, especially those related to memory management, which account for around 70% of all security-critical errors (according to Microsoft). This would lead to increased security without impacting performance. Mozilla liked the idea and supported Hoare's project as part of its browser. After several years of development, the first official stable version of Rust was released in 2015. The name is a contraction of "Robust," which is precisely what distinguishes Rust. The programming language has very high security without compromising on performance or space – areas where Rust shows similarities to C and C++. Additionally, it has features that make the language useful in situations where high-level languages like JavaScript or Go are typically required. This combination has taken Rust from being a side project to being a beloved and widely used programming language.

Today, Rust development is driven as open source by the Rust Foundation, an organization supported by major tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.

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Why Rust is such a popular programming language

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Since its launch, Rust has consistently topped Stack Overflow's annual Developer Survey as the "most loved language" year after year. Rust has quickly been adopted by more and more developers, with close to three million developers now using the language. Its usage has tripled in just two years. Moreover, there's a large community around Rust where so-called "Rustaceans" voluntarily contribute to the language's development and share knowledge with other users.

Rust's popularity among developers can be attributed to its reliability and speed. Rust solves many of the problems of other programming languages and delivers speed, security, and performance without carrying as many disadvantages. The list of advantages of using Rust can be lengthy, but focusing on the most important aspects, Rust's strengths include the following:

• Safety: Programming languages like C++ can suffer from memory problems that affect performance (or elevator operation). Rust addresses these memory management issues through its ownership model, which allows applications to analyze memory already at compile time. The compiler warns early about memory errors so that the programmer can fix them before they cause issues. This also affects thread safety so that a thread only has access to one variable at a time. This, in turn, solves the problem of multiple threads accessing the same memory location and causing issues in the application.

• Speed: Languages built for safety tend to be slow (for example, Python). However, Rust code is as fast as code typically written in C++ and C. This makes Rust both a stable and fast programming language.

• Support for multiple platforms: Rust works on major platforms like Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and several others. This makes it easy to develop applications and manage configurations on different platforms. Thanks to Rust's tools, it's possible to distribute code to multiple platforms with just one command.

• Useful features and libraries: Rust combines safety and performance without compromising on features. Rust has as many and as powerful features as other languages. There's also a useful standard library that makes it easier for C and C++ programmers to switch to Rust. Additionally, there are currently more than 60,000 third-party libraries (called crates) that expand Rust's already great usability.

In addition to these advantages, Rust also has strengths such as: the ability to use more abstractions in the code without affecting performance; easy deployment; and good IDE support. Rust also has a large and dedicated community where it's easy to share knowledge, get answers to questions, or bounce ideas. This means that any problems can be quickly resolved while the language continues to evolve.

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Is Rust suitable for app development?

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Thanks to its general-purpose language and direct access to both hardware and memory, Rust is well suited for developing a variety of applications. Today, Rust is used for Amazon's cloud services, Microsoft's operating systems, Google's Android development and operating system Linux, and Dropbox's file synchronization, among others. Additionally, it's applied in many other areas, such as game engines and online education.

Rust's ecosystem with many tools and libraries makes it a favorable choice among developers with different needs. For example, in app development where performance and memory safety are crucial. With Rust's minimal runtime and efficient memory usage, interoperability – allowing developers to write code once and share it across multiple platforms – and many other strengths, the language is now growing strongly in app development. Thanks to Rust's efficiency and versatility, it's now possible to increase both the quality and speed of app development. All thanks to a broken elevator.
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