Vitaly Bragilevsky, Developer Advocate at JetBrains and expert in Rust and RustRover IDE tooling, dives into the ins and outs of the Rust programming language. He discusses Rust's unique ownership model that ensures memory safety and its growing popularity among developers from dynamic languages. The conversation also compares Rust Trova and Rust Analyzer, highlighting their advanced debugging features. Furthermore, Vitaly explores the game-changing role of AI in development tools and the future of multi-language support in IDEs for better accessibility.
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Quick takeaways
Rust's ownership model enhances memory safety and efficiency, making it suitable for a variety of applications beyond systems programming.
JetBrains' RustRover IDE aims to improve accessibility for Rust developers by integrating advanced features and AI-driven support.
Deep dives
Overview of Rust Programming Language
Rust is primarily known as a systems programming language, originally intended to replace C and C++ for low-level system tasks. However, its applicability has expanded significantly, becoming a general-purpose language versatile enough for web development and other domains. The language's design emphasizes performance, safety, and concurrency while prioritizing memory safety without relying on a garbage collector. Key to its safety features is Rust's ownership model, which ensures efficient memory management, making it ideal for those working with system resources.
Rust's Position in the Developer Ecosystem
The current Rust developer ecosystem illustrates a notable trend in its user base, primarily attracting developers from Python and JavaScript backgrounds rather than traditional C and C++ programmers. Many key advantages of Rust, such as predictable performance and enhanced memory safety, are appealing to those who have encountered limitations with more dynamically-typed languages. Importantly, there is a growing recognition of Rust's suitability in various applications, including embedded systems, web assembly, and financial software, indicating its wide-ranging potential. This trend underscores the language's evolution beyond its initial systems programming roots.
Competing Languages and Use Cases
Rust faces competition from other programming languages like Go, particularly in web development and cloud services. While Rust excels in safety and performance, Go remains extremely popular in regions such as China, with its adoption likely influencing broader trends among developers. Additionally, emerging languages and tools, such as those focused on blockchain technology, also vie for the attention of developers, showcasing a diverse landscape of options. Each language brings unique strengths to specific use cases, impacting the trajectories of projects and company decisions in technology.
JetBrains and Rust Rover Development Environment
JetBrains has launched Rust Rover, a dedicated IDE for Rust development, built upon its well-established IntelliJ platform. This new tool not only provides Rust code support but also integrates many features that streamline development tasks, such as debuggers and database application capabilities. The aim is to enhance user experience and accessibility, especially for developers transitioning from other programming languages. By leveraging AI tools and context-aware suggestions, Rust Rover seeks to provide a powerful development environment tailored specifically for Rust projects.
Rust is a systems programming language created by Graydon Hoare in 2006 and first released by Mozilla in 2010. It is designed for performance, safety, and concurrency, with a focus on memory safety without a garbage collector. Rust’s ownership model ensures safe memory management, making it viable for tasks that require control over system resources, such as embedded systems, web assembly, and game development.
RustRover is a dedicated Rust IDE that was created by JetBrains to support the growing popularity of Rust. Vitaly Bragilevsky is a Developer Advocate at JetBrains, and has expertise in Rust and RustRover. He joins the podcast with Lee Atchison to talk about Rust, the Rust developer ecosystem, using an IDE to make Rust more accessible, and more.
This episode is hosted by Lee Atchison. Lee Atchison is a software architect, author, and thought leader on cloud computing and application modernization. His best-selling book, Architecting for Scale (O’Reilly Media), is an essential resource for technical teams looking to maintain high availability and manage risk in their cloud environments.
Lee is the host of his podcast, Modern Digital Business, an engaging and informative podcast produced for people looking to build and grow their digital business with the help of modern applications and processes developed for today’s fast-moving business environment. Listen at mdb.fm. Follow Lee at softwarearchitectureinsights.com, and see all his content at leeatchison.com.