Introduction to Rust

Introduction to Rust

Rust is a modern systems programming language that focuses on safety, speed, and concurrency. It achieves memory safety without using garbage collection, making it ideal for performance-critical applications.

Why Rust?

  • Memory Safety: Rust's ownership system guarantees memory safety without a garbage collector
  • Performance: Rust is as fast as C and C++
  • Concurrency: Safe concurrency with compile-time guarantees
  • Zero-cost Abstractions: High-level features that compile to efficient machine code
  • Modern Tooling: Excellent package manager (Cargo) and compiler with helpful error messages

Key Features

1. Ownership System

Rust's unique ownership system ensures memory safety and prevents common bugs like:

  • Use after free
  • Double free
  • Null pointer dereferences
  • Data races

2. Pattern Matching

Powerful pattern matching allows you to destructure and match against data structures.

3. Traits

Rust's trait system enables zero-cost abstractions and polymorphism.

4. Error Handling

Rust uses Result<T, E> and Option<T> types for explicit error handling without exceptions.

Getting Started

To install Rust, visit rustup.rs and follow the instructions for your operating system.

After installation, verify by running:

rustc --version
cargo --version

Your First Rust Program

Create a new file called main.rs:

fn main() {
    println!("Welcome to Rust!");
}

Compile and run:

rustc main.rs
./main

Or use Cargo (recommended):

cargo new hello_rust
cd hello_rust
cargo run

Rust Philosophy

Rust follows these core principles:

  1. Zero-cost abstractions: What you don't use, you don't pay for
  2. Memory safety: No null pointer dereferences, no data races
  3. Threads without data races: Fearless concurrency
  4. Trait-based generics: Flexible and reusable code
  5. Pattern matching: Expressive control flow
  6. Type inference: Less boilerplate, more clarity
  7. Minimal runtime: No garbage collector needed

Common Use Cases

  • Systems programming (OS, embedded systems)
  • Web servers and network services
  • Command-line tools
  • WebAssembly applications
  • Game engines
  • Blockchain and cryptocurrencies
  • Performance-critical applications

Next Steps

Continue learning with:

  • Variables and Mutability
  • Data Types
  • Functions
  • Ownership and Borrowing
  • Structs and Enums
  • Error Handling