Rust Never Sleeps
While you do things the way you've always done, others have started again — this time more intelligently. And it is just a matter of time before they leave you behind by leveraging the advantage you that thought you didn't have time to master yourself.
— Orison Swett Marden
There is an interesting (and ironic) life-lesson to be learned from something that is happening in the tech industry right now.
Most of you don't care, I know, but for years I have been telling people that the Rust programming language is not just another one of the 700+ programming languages out there — Rust is different. Rust is important. And Rust is probably the future.
Research and auditing have repeatedly found that memory-safety vulnerabilities make up the majority of all software bugs and security flaws. Every software company in existence has tried to come up with training, procedures, audits, etc. to prevent these vulnerabilities, but the problem is now simply too complex for humans to solve.
But guess what: the permanent fix for those bugs is built-in to Rust; Rust's default is to never allow those vulnerabilities to exist in the first place, and do it with no extra effort by humans.
With Rust, you spend a lot more time creating what you set out to build, and a lot less time trying to figure out why it isn't working and plugging security holes that could probably only could have been discovered by releasing the software into the wild.
"Continuing to use memory-unsafe code for another decade would be a massive problem for the tech industry, for national security, for everything," says researcher Dan Lorenc. "It's less that [Rust] is the right choice, and more that it's ready."
Rust was built for today's world of multicore processors. It executes with C-like speeds, yet it is a modern, high level language that is far easier for humans to write than C.
The internet runs on the Linux operating system; Linux is absolutely crucial to modern life in every country. Given how important the speed and reliability of Linux is to the world, it is noteworth that after 30 years of only using the C programming language to write the kernel of Linux, Rust is now the ONLY other language allowed in writing the Linux kernel.
This is not just because Rust is so much better than every other alternative, but the reality is the pool of skilled C and C++ programmers is drying up. For the good of the world, Rust needs to rise faster than the generation of C programmers retires.
But Rust is not just a systems language; it has the potential to be that one language that does 90+% of whatever needs building. Rust can write web apps via web assembly, cloud server apps, and native apps for devices ranging from industrial robotics to smart phones, tablets, Macs and PCs.
And Rust is the one language that brought together competitors like Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft. These companies (and others) formed and funded a foundation to care for the language and its ecosystem.
Continuing to build software the way we are now for another decade would be an massive MISTAKE for the tech industry, for national security, for everything.
It seems like a no-brainer: Rust is a language everyone should know about now — and all technologists should be embracing.
But here is the thing:
For the time being most programmers will ignore Rust. After all, they've worked hard to know what they know, and it is doing the job for them well enough for the moment, so they're just going to stick with that.
The great philosopher, Henry Ford, once said: "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." - Henry Ford
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." - Henry Ford
While you do things the way you've always done, somewhere out there are people who have started again — this time more intelligently. Consequently, it is just a matter of time before they catch you — then leave you in their dust — by leveraging the advantage you that you couldn't be bothered to master yourself.
Thanks for listening.
— Orison Swett Marden
Links:
Liam Tung
Liam Tung
Elliot Dickerson
Ian Evenden
Alex McMurray
Shraddha Goled
