Why would a python programmer learn rust, when there are no jobs in it?
Videos · Technology
Created by Rishabh Srivastava, Founder of Loki.ai
This summary was largely done for my own note-taking, sharing it just in case it adds more value to other people.
I have no affiliation whatsoever with anyone in this note. This is a summary largely taken for my own reference, and may contain errors :)
Context
Source URL:
Why is it important: See title
Keywords
Rust, Programming
Summary
Rust can interface very well with C. Has a very significant advantage (Python’s is fast to develop, Rust’s is _____)
Why do people like Python?
- Fast to write
- Quick to debug
- Duck typing makes it succinct
- Good enough error handling
- Tool packaging is awesome
Python compromises
- Multithreading: GIL (Global Interpreter Lock) is sometimes a blocking issue
- Performance
- Default python doesn’t work well on embedded systems
- Memory Usage can be very high
Why avoid C/C++?
- Development is slow
- Debugging is hard
- Multithreading is hard
- Compiler errors
- Memory management issues that often only appear in production
Why use Rust?
- Designed to replace C/C++ in Firefox. Gets their performance while avoiding issues
- No Garbage collector
- Multithreaded support based into type system
- Variables are immutable by default
- Enumerated types can contain variables
Rustup is the default way to get rust development tools. Installs downloads and executes stuff from web
Rust Cargo: simple to use
Rust Compiler has error messages that are mostly helpful. Often proposes correct solution to the problem
Macros show errors before being expanded — you can find your mistake fast
Compile speeds are very slow, though
Rust does not have exceptions like C++/python
Rust is not quite OO, though. Doesn’t support inheritance. Has traits instead
Rust borrow checker is awesome
Can use pyo3 to embed Rust in python