Google shared their insights into the "net celebrity" programming language based on their experience and experience using Rust within the team, including clarification of common Rust myths.
1. Rust requires at least 6 months of study
Google refuted the claim.
Google's internal survey shows that more than 2/3 of the respondents are confident that when learning Rust, they can contribute to the Rust code base in two months or less. Additionally, 1/3 of respondents became as productive using Rust as any other language in two months or less. Within four months, that number had increased to more than 50%.
2. The Rust compiler is not as fast as expected
Google confirmed this claim.
Slow build speeds are by far the number one challenge developers encounter when using Rust, with just over 40% of respondents finding speed acceptable, they said .
3. Unsafe code and interoperability are always the biggest challenges
Google refuted the claim.
For current Google developers, the top three challenges they face in the Rust space are:
Writing unsafe code and dealing with C/C++ interop is also a problem for Google developers, but not the biggest challenge.
4. Rust's compiler error messages are useful
Google confirmed this claim.
Only 9% of respondents within Google were dissatisfied with the quality of diagnostic and debugging information in Rust.
Judging from the feedback from the community, everyone is amazed at the excellent performance of the compiler message. It was a bit surprising at first - after all, people are used to ignoring big compiler errors, but after getting used to it, everyone liked it.
5. Rust's code quality is high
Google confirmed this claim.
Respondents say the quality of Rust code is high - 77% of developers are satisfied with the quality of Rust code. In fact, when asked to compare whether they thought Rust code was more correct than code they wrote in other languages, an overwhelming 85% of respondents believed their Rust code was correct.
In addition to being correct, Rust code is also easy to review, and more than half of the respondents said that Rust code is very easy to review.