Outline of the Rust programming language

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Rust:

Rust is a multi-paradigm programming language emphasizing performance, memory safety, and concurrency. Rust was initially developed by Graydon Hoare starting in 2006, later sponsored and maintained by Mozilla Research starting in 2009, and first publicly released in 2010, with version 1.0 released in 2015. Rust is syntactically similar to C++ but guarantees memory safety without requiring a garbage collector. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

What type of language is Rust?

• Programming language – artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a computer
• Compiled language – implemented through compilers rather than interpreters ^{[5] [ user-generated source? ]}
• General-purpose programming language
• Multi-paradigm programming language – supports functional programming, imperative programming, concurrent programming.
• Statically typed programming language – type checking performed at compile time ^[6]
• Systems programming language – designed for low-level programming and operating system development ^{[7] [ user-generated source? ]}
• Memory-safe language – prevents common undefined behavior like dangling pointers and buffer overflows ^[8]

History of Rust

See also: History of Rust

• Graydon Hoare – creator of Rust starting in 2006 ^[9]
• Mozilla – original sponsor and maintainer of Rust starting in 2009
• Cargo (software) – introduced as Rust’s official package manager and build system in 2014
• Rust Foundation – current steward of the Rust project since its inception in 2021

General Rust concepts

See also: Rust syntax

• Asynchronous I/O ^[10]
• Arrays and vectors
• Borrow checker ^[11]
• Closures ^[12]
• Concurrency ^[13]
• Crates and modules ^{[14] [15]}
• Enums in Rust ^{[16] [17]}
• Error handling ^[18]
• Functions ^[19]
• Generics ^[20]
• If statements and booleans ^[21]
• Iterators ^[22]
• Lifetimes
• Macros ^[23]
• Memory management ^[24]
• Ownership ^[25]
• Pattern matching ^[26]
• Serialization ^[27]
• Smart pointers ^[28]
• Strings ^[29]
• Tuples and structs ^[30]
• Traits ^[31]
• Type inference ^[32]
• Unit testing ^[33]
• Variables ^{[34] [35]}

Issues / Limitations

• Compile time performance ^[36]
• Ecosystem maturity

Rust toolchain

See also: List of Rust software and tools

Compilers

See also: List of Rust compilers

• rustc – official Rust compiler
• LLVM – Rust backend uses LLVM for code generation
• mrustc – alternative Rust compiler written in C++ ^[37]
• Cranelift – JIT compiler backend used in Wasmtime ^{[38] [39]}

Build and package management

• Cargo – build system and package manager ^[40]
• Crates.io – official Rust package registry ^[41]

Rust libraries and frameworks

• Rocket – web framework focused on type safety ^[42]
• Serde – framework for serialization and deserialization supporting JSON, YAML, TOML, and more. ^[43]
• Tokio – asynchronous runtime for Rust ^[44]

Testing and benchmarking

• Criterion.rs – benchmarking library ^{[45] [46]}
• Built-in unit testing with Cargo ^[47]

Notable projects written in Rust

• Firefox (partial, via components)
• Alacritty
• Deno
• TiKV

Example source code

• Articles with example Rust code

Rust publications

Books about Rust

• The Rust Programming Language – Steve Klabnik and Carol Nichols
• The Secrets of Rust: Tools – Bitfield Consulting
• Effective Rust – David Drysdale
• Rust for Rustaceans – Jon Gjengset
• Programming Rust – Jim Blandy, Jason Orendorff, and Leonora Tindall
• Rust in Action – Tim McNamara
• Zero to Production in Rust – Luca Palmieri ^[48]

Rust dialects and related languages

• Dyon – rusty dynamically typed scripting language ^[49]
• Fe – inspired by Rust, smart contract language for the Ethereum blockchain ^[50]
• Move – originally developed for the Diem blockchain ^[51]
• Sway – Rust-based language for smart contracts ^[52]

Rust learning resources

See also: List of online integrated development environments

• Getting started with Rust
• Official Rust Learn page
• W3Schools – Rust tutorials
• The Rust Programming Language (online book)
• Rust By Example

Competitive programming

See also: List of online competitive programming platforms

• LeetCode – supports Rust submissions
• HackerRank – includes Rust challenges
• Codeforces – supports Rust in contests

See also

• Outline of computer programming
• Outline of software
• Outline of software engineering
• Outline of C++

Outlines of other programming languages

• Outline of the C programming language
• Outline of the C sharp programming language
• Outline of the C++ programming language
• Outline of the Java programming language
• Outline of the JavaScript programming language
• Outline of the Perl programming language
• Outline of the Python programming language

External links

• Official Rust website
• Rust documentation
• Rust GitHub repository

References

1. page, Clive Thompsonarchive. "How Rust went from a side project to the world's most-loved programming language". MIT Technology Review.
2. "Introduction - Rust By Example". doc.rust-lang.org.
3. "Introduction to Rust Programming Language". GeeksforGeeks. March 18, 2021.
4. "CS 242: Memory safety in Rust". stanford-cs242.github.io.
5. Shuklin, George (October 2, 2020). "My first insight into Rust type system".
6. "Static - Rust By Example". doc.rust-lang.org.
7. C, Carlo (April 28, 2025). "Rust Core: Key Concepts for Getting Started".
8. "Rust memory safety explained".
9. Cassel, David (September 10, 2023). "Graydon Hoare Remembers the Early Days of Rust".
10. "Introduction - Asynchronous Programming in Rust". rust-lang.github.io.
11. "References and Borrowing". doc.rust-lang.org.
12. "Closures: Anonymous Functions that Capture Their Environment - The Rust Programming Language". rustwiki.org.
13. "Concurrency - The Rust Programming Language". web.mit.edu.
14. "Crates and Modules - The Rust Programming Language". web.mit.edu.
15. "Crates - Rust By Example". doc.rust-lang.org.
16. "Enums - Rust By Example". doc.rust-lang.org.
17. "Rust - Enum". GeeksforGeeks. March 18, 2021.
18. "Error Handling - The Rust Programming Language". web.mit.edu.
19. "Functions - The Rust Programming Language". doc.rust-lang.org.
20. "Generic Data Types - The Rust Programming Language". rustwiki.org.
21. "Control Flow - The Rust Programming Language". doc.rust-lang.org.
22. "Iterators - The Rust Programming Language". web.mit.edu.
23. "Macros - The Rust Programming Language". doc.rust-lang.org.
24. "Memory Management - Comprehensive Rust 🦀". google.github.io.
25. "What is Ownership? - The Rust Programming Language". doc.rust-lang.org.
26. "Rust Pattern Matching (With Examples)". www.programiz.com.
27. "Serialize in serde - Rust". docs.rs.
28. "Smart Pointers - The Rust Programming Language". doc.rust-lang.org.
29. "Strings - Rust By Example". doc.rust-lang.org.
30. "Defining and Instantiating Structs - The Rust Programming Language". doc.rust-lang.org.
31. "Traits: Defining Shared Behavior - The Rust Programming Language". doc.rust-lang.org.
32. "Type inference - Rust Compiler Development Guide". rustc-dev-guide.rust-lang.org.
33. "Unit testing - Rust By Example". rustwiki.org.
34. "Variables and Mutability - The Rust Programming Language". doc.rust-lang.org.
35. "Variables in Rust". GeeksforGeeks. March 1, 2021.
36. "Compile Times - The Rust Performance Book". nnethercote.github.io.
37. "thepowersgang/mrustc". November 5, 2025 – via GitHub.
38. "Cranelift". cranelift.dev.
39. "rust-lang/rustc_codegen_cranelift". November 6, 2025 – via GitHub.
40. "Introduction - The Cargo Book". doc.rust-lang.org.
41. "The Rust community's crate registry". crates.io.
42. "Rocket - Simple, Fast, Type-Safe Web Framework for Rust". rocket.rs.
43. "Overview · Serde". serde.rs.
44. "Tokio - An asynchronous Rust runtime". tokio.rs.
45. "bheisler/criterion.rs". November 6, 2025 – via GitHub.
46. "criterion - Rust". docs.rs.
47. "Tests - The Cargo Book". doc.rust-lang.org.
48. "The best Rust books for 2025, reviewed". Bitfield Consulting. July 5, 2024.
49. "PistonDevelopers/dyon". October 23, 2025 – via GitHub.
50. "Fe - A next generation, statically typed, future-proof smart contract language for the Ethereum Virtual Machine". fe-lang.org.
51. "Introduction - The Move Book". move-language.github.io.
52. "The Sway Programming Language - The Sway Programming Language". fuellabs.github.io.