It's the first "new" language in a long time that is viable for embedded/bare metal/kernel space, high performance and real time applications.
The memory safety concepts are novel and unique to Rust but enough has been talked about them already.
Additionally, it brings a lot of features from "advanced" programming languages (ML, Haskell) to a more mainstream language. Sum types, pattern matching, powerful macros. None of these are new or unique, but are executed particularly well in Rust.
In addition to the new features and concepts, the Rust compiler and ecosystem are well engineered and have a good amount of support.
It's the first "new" programming language in a decades worth getting excited about. Ok, maybe I was a bit excited about Julia too, but their execution is not as great as Rust's (and they have made some questionable design decisions).
There's also the community. I've never seen another language community built with so much deliberate effort, rather than just accreting around a project. And for a language like Rust, I think this is necessary -- with so many unfamiliar concepts and new ways to fail, it would have been very hard to get any traction without a strong community push.
> Ok, maybe I was a bit excited about Julia too, but their execution is not as great as Rust's (and they have made some questionable design decisions).
Could you expound on this? The code I currently write and expect to write in the near-to-mid-term is numerical for engineering purposes. I have the luxury of being able to write greenfield projects, at least for now. My experience with OCaml has inculcated a deep appreciation for powerful type systems and functional styles, so Python, despite its awesome ecosystem, is not particularly of interest. Julia appears to be the natural choice in this space for new development, but I've been a little leery after reading about Dan Luu's experience a couple of years ago: http://danluu.com/julialang/
I'm interested in reasoned criticisms of Julia as it stands now, and what modern practical alternatives people have found.
The memory safety concepts are novel and unique to Rust but enough has been talked about them already.
Additionally, it brings a lot of features from "advanced" programming languages (ML, Haskell) to a more mainstream language. Sum types, pattern matching, powerful macros. None of these are new or unique, but are executed particularly well in Rust.
In addition to the new features and concepts, the Rust compiler and ecosystem are well engineered and have a good amount of support.
It's the first "new" programming language in a decades worth getting excited about. Ok, maybe I was a bit excited about Julia too, but their execution is not as great as Rust's (and they have made some questionable design decisions).