Rust birthday post

Author: aturon

_posts/2016-05-16-rust-at-one-year.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: "One year of Rust"
+author: Aaron Turon
+description: "Rust's trajectory one year after 1.0"
+---
+
+Rust is a language that gives you:
+
+- uncompromising performance and control;
+- prevention of entire categories of bugs, including [classic concurrency pitfalls];
+- ergonomics that often rival languages like [Python] and [Ruby].
+
+It's a language for writing highly reliable, screamingly fast software—and
+having fun doing it.
+
+[classic concurrency pitfalls]: http://blog.rust-lang.org/2015/04/10/Fearless-Concurrency.html
+[Python]: http://lucumr.pocoo.org/2015/5/27/rust-for-pythonistas/
+[Ruby]: http://diesel.rs/
+
+And yesterday, Rust turned one year old.
+
+### Rust in numbers
+
+A lot has happened in the last 365 days:
+
+- 11,894 [commits] by 702 contributors added to the core repository;
+- 88 [RFCs] merged;
+- 18 compiler targets introduced;
+- 9 releases shipped;
+- 1 year of [stability delivered].
+
+On an **average week** this year, the Rust community merged two RFCs and
+published 53 brand new [crates]. Not a single day went by without at least one
+new Rust library hitting the central package manager. And Rust topped the
+"[most loved] language" in this year's StackOverflow survey.
+
+> Speaking of numbers: we recently launched a [survey] of our own, and want to
+> hear from you whether you are an old hat at Rust, or have never used it.
+
+One place where our numbers are not where we want them to be: community
+diversity. We've had ongoing local outreach efforts, but the Rust community team
+will soon be launching a coordinated, global effort following the [Bridge] model
+(e.g. RailsBridge). If you want to get involved, or have other ideas for
+outreach, please let [the community team] know.
+
+[survey]: http://blog.rust-lang.org/2016/05/09/survey.html
+
+[most loved]: https://stackoverflow.com/research/developer-survey-2016
+
+[commits]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/commits/master
+[RFCs]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs
+[stability delivered]: http://blog.rust-lang.org/2014/10/30/Stability.html
+[crates]: https://crates.io/
+
+[Bridge]: http://bridgefoundry.org/
+[the community team]: mailto:[email protected]
+
+### Rust in production
+
+This year saw more companies [betting on Rust]. Each one has a story, but two
+particularly resonated.
+
+[betting on Rust]: https://www.rust-lang.org/friends.html
+
+First, there's Dropbox. For the last several years, the company has been
+secretively working on a move
+[away from AWS and onto its own infrastructure][dropbox]. The move, which is now
+complete, included developing custom-build hardware and the software to drive
+it. While much of Dropbox's back-end infrastructure is historically written in
+Go, for some key components the memory footprint and lack of control stood in
+the way of achieving the server utilization they were striving for. They rewrote
+those components in Rust.  In the [words of Jamie Turner][dropbox quote], a lead
+engineer for the project, "the advantages of Rust are many: really powerful
+abstractions, no null, no segfaults, no leaks, yet C-like performance and
+control over memory."
+
+[dropbox]: http://www.wired.com/2016/03/epic-story-dropboxs-exodus-amazon-cloud-empire/
+[dropbox quote]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11283688
+
+Second, there's Mozilla. They've long been developing [Servo] as a research
+browser engine in Rust, but their first *production* Rust code shipped through a
+different vehicle: Firefox. In Firefox 45, without any fanfare, Rust code for
+[mp4 metadata parsing] went out to OSX and 64-bit Linux users; it will hit
+Windows in version 48. The code is currently running in test mode, with its
+results compared against the legacy C++ library: 100% correctness on
+[1 billion reported executions]. But this code is just the tip of the iceberg:
+after laying a lot of [groundwork for Rust integration], Firefox is poised to
+bring in significant amounts of new Rust code, including components from
+Servo—and not just in test mode.
+
+[Servo]: https://github.com/servo/servo/
+[mp4 metadata parsing]: https://github.com/mozilla/mp4parse-rust
+[1 billion reported executions]: https://telemetry.mozilla.org/new-pipeline/dist.html#!cumulative=0&end_date=2016-04-07&keys=__none__!__none__!__none__&max_channel_version=release%252F45&measure=MEDIA_RUST_MP4PARSE_SUCCESS&min_channel_version=null&product=Firefox&sanitize=1&sort_keys=submissions&start_date=2016-03-03&table=0&trim=1&use_submission_date=0
+[groundwork for Rust integration]: http://wiki.mozilla.org/Oxidation
+
+In both of these cases, the people involved were hardened C++ devs who knew its
+downsides—and Rust's upsides—in their bones. But there's another
+kind of story we [hear a lot] from smaller shops putting Rust into production:
+that they would never dream of shipping C++ code, but that Rust provides the
+leverage to go head-to-head with larger organizations that *do* use C++, giving
+them competitive performance and much greater agility. Rust helps you punch
+above your weight.
+
+[hear a lot]: http://confreaks.tv/videos/rustcamp2015-using-rust-from-c-or-any-language
+
+These are just a few stories of Rust in production, but we'd love to [hear yours]!
+
+[hear yours]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust-www/issues/new?title=New+Website+Logo%3A+[insert+name]%0A&body=To+list+your+organization%27s+logo+on+the+Rust+website%2C+fill+out+the+following+information+and+click+%22submit+new+issue%22.+Alternately%2C+you+may+edit+_data%2Fusers.yml+as+described+therein+and+submit+a+pull+request.%0D%0A%0D%0A-+Organization+name%3A+%28as+you+want+it+displayed%29%0D%0A-+Homepage+url%3A+%28homepage%2Fprimary+entry+point+for+users%29%0D%0A-+Logo+url%3A+%28svg+if+possible%2C+pngs+over+400x200px+with+transparent+backgrounds+are+also+acceptable%29%0D%0A-+How+you+are+using+Rust%3A+%28one+sentence+describing+your+use+of+Rust%29%0D%0A-+Url+describing+Rust+usage%3A+%28optional+link+to+e.g.+blog+post+explaining+how+you+use+Rust%29%0D%0A-+Organization+contact%3A+%28name+and+email.+we+may+contact+you+when+updating+this+page.+alternately+you+may+email+this+information+to+user-logos%40rust-lang.org+and+it+will+be+kept+secret%29.%0D%0A
+
+### Rust, improved
+
+Of course, Rust itself hasn't been standing still. The focus in its first year
+has been growing and polishing its ecosystem and tooling:
+
+- **Ecosystem**. The standard library has steadily expanded, with growth focused
+  on [filesystem access], [networking], [time], and [collections] APIs—and
+  dramatically better documentation coverage.  There's good support for working
+  with C libraries via the [libc], [winapi], and [gcc] crates. And new libraries
+  for [low-level async io][mio], [easy parallelism][rayon],
+  [lock-free data structures][crossbeam],
+  [Rails-like object-relational mapping][diesel], [regular expressions][regex],
+  and several [parsing][nom] [libraries][lalrpop], including [html5ever], a
+  unique HTML5 parser that leverages Rust's macro system to make the code
+  resemble the spec as closely as possible. These are just scratching the
+  surface, of course, and ecosystem growth, curation and
+  coherence—particularly around async IO and the web stack—will
+  continue to be a major focus in the coming year.
+
+[filesystem access]: http://static.rust-lang.org/doc/master/std/fs/index.html
+[networking]: http://static.rust-lang.org/doc/master/std/net/index.html
+[time]: http://static.rust-lang.org/doc/master/std/time/index.html
+[collections]: http://static.rust-lang.org/doc/master/std/collections/index.html
+[libc]: https://github.com/rust-lang/libc
+[winapi]: https://github.com/retep998/winapi-rs
+[gcc]: https://github.com/alexcrichton/gcc-rs
+[mio]: https://github.com/carllerche/mio/
+[rayon]: http://smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/blog/2015/12/18/rayon-data-parallelism-in-rust/
+[crossbeam]: http://aturon.github.io/blog/2015/08/27/epoch/
+[regex]: https://github.com/rust-lang-nursery/regex
+[diesel]: http://diesel.rs/
+[nom]: https://github.com/Geal/nom
+[lalrpop]: http://smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/blog/2015/09/14/lalrpop/
+[html5ever]: https://kmcallister.github.io/talks/rust/2014-rust-macros/slides.html
+
+- **Platforms and targets**. Rust's footprint is not much bigger than C's, which
+  makes it ideal for using in all kinds of places. Over the last year, Rust
+  gained the ability to work directly with the native [MSVC toolchain] on
+  Windows, to target [musl] (thereby creating a binary that can be used with
+  zero dependencies on *any* variety of Linux), to target Android and ARM
+  devices, and [many more platforms][platforms]. The new [rustup tool] makes it
+  a breeze to manage and compile to these various targets. As of
+  [Rust 1.6][no_std], you can use Rust without its full standard library,
+  limiting to a core library that does not require any OS services (and hence is
+  suitable for [writing OSes](http://os.phil-opp.com/)
+  [in Rust][intermezzos]). Finally, there are an increasing number of libraries
+  for embedding Rust code into other contexts, like [node.js][neon],
+  [Ruby][helix] and [Go][rure-go].
+
+[MSVC toolchain]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/25350
+[MUSL]: https://www.musl-libc.org/
+[platforms]: https://forge.rust-lang.org/platform-support.html
+[rustup tool]: http://blog.rust-lang.org/2016/05/13/rustup.html
+[no_std]: http://blog.rust-lang.org/2016/01/21/Rust-1.6.html
+[intermezzos]: https://intermezzos.github.io/
+[neon]: http://calculist.org/blog/2015/12/23/neon-node-rust/
+[helix]: http://blog.skylight.io/introducing-helix/
+[rure-go]: https://github.com/BurntSushi/rure-go
+
+- **Tools**. Because Rust looks just like C on the outside, it's instantly
+  usable with a wide range of existing tools; it works out of the box with
+  [lldb], [gdb], [perf], [valgrind], [callgrind], and many, many more.  Our
+  focus has been to [enrich the experience] for these tools by adding
+  [Rust-specific hooks][gdb] and [workflows][cargo profile]. Another major
+  priority is providing full IDE support, in part by providing daemonized
+  services from the compiler; we made [good progress][IDEs] on that front this
+  year, and thanks to the [Racer] project, [numerous IDE plugins] are already
+  providing some semantic support for Rust. At the same time, the [rustfmt] code
+  formatting tool has matured to the point that the Rust community is ready to
+  produce an [official style].  And the beating heart of Rust's workflow,
+  [Cargo], gained numerous abilities this year, most notably the
+  [install subcommand].
+
+[lldb]: http://lldb.llvm.org/
+[gdb]: https://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/
+[perf]: https://perf.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page
+[valgrind]: http://valgrind.org/
+[callgrind]: https://kcachegrind.github.io/html/Home.html
+[enrich the experience]: https://michaelwoerister.github.io/2015/03/27/rust-xxdb.html
+[gdb]: https://sourceware.org/ml/gdb-patches/2016-04/msg00570.html
+[cargo profile]: http://www.suchin.co/2016/05/11/Introducing-Cargo-Profiler/
+[IDEs]: https://www.rust-lang.org/ides.html
+[Racer]: https://github.com/phildawes/racer
+[numerous IDE plugins]: https://areweideyet.com/
+[rustfmt]: https://github.com/rust-lang-nursery/rustfmt
+[official style]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/1607
+[Cargo]: http://blog.rust-lang.org/2016/05/05/cargo-pillars.html
+[install subcommand]: http://blog.rust-lang.org/2015/12/10/Rust-1.5.html
+
+- **Compiler**. We've seen some [across-the-board improvements] to compile
+  times, and now offer [parallelized code generation][parallel codegen] for
+  further speedups. But the biggest wins will come from the ongoing work on
+  [incremental compilation], which will minimize the amount of work the needed
+  when recompiling code after editing it. A vital step here was the move to a
+  [custom intermediate representation][MIR], which has many other benefits as
+  well. Another focus has been errors, including
+  [detailed explanations of most errors][error index], and ongoing work to
+  [improve the clarity and focus of errors][error format]. Expect to hear more
+  on both fronts soon.
+
+[across-the-board improvements]: http://blog.rust-lang.org/2015/06/25/Rust-1.1.html
+[parallel codegen]: http://blog.rust-lang.org/2015/08/06/Rust-1.2.html
+[incremental compilation]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/1298
+[MIR]: http://blog.rust-lang.org/2016/04/19/MIR.html
+[error index]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/error-index.html
+[error format]: https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/new-error-format/3438
+
+- **Core language**. We've kept one list purposefully short this year: growth in
+  the core language. While we have some important features in the pipeline (like
+  [more flexible borrowing rules] and [specialization]), [Rust users] by and
+  large are happy with the core language and prefer the community to focus on
+  the ecosystem and tooling.
+
+[Rust users]: https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/production-user-research-summary/2530
+[more flexible borrowing rules]: http://smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/blog/2016/04/27/non-lexical-lifetimes-introduction/
+[specialization]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/1210
+
+There's a lot more to say about what's happened and what's coming up in the Rust
+world—over the coming months, we'll be using this blog to say it.
+
+### Rust in community
+
+It turns out that people like to get together and talk Rust:
+
+- August 2015: a sold-out [RustCamp];
+- September 9-10, 2016: the first [RustConf] in Portland, OR, USA;
+- September 17, 2016: [RustFest], the European community conference, in Berlin, Germany;
+- October 27-18, 2016: [Rust Belt Rust], a Rust conference in Pittsburgh, PA, USA;
+- 71 Rust-related [meetup] groups worldwide.
+
+[RustCamp]: http://rustcamp.com/
+[RustConf]: http://rustconf.com/
+[RustFest]: http://www.rustfest.eu/blog/happy-birthday-announcing-rustfest
+[Rust Belt Rust]: http://rust-belt-rust.com/
+[meetup]: http://rust.meetup.com/
+
+And that's no surprise. From a personal perspective, the best part about working
+with Rust is its [community]. It's hard to explain quite what it's like to be
+part of this group, but two things stand out. First, its sheer *energy*: so much
+happens in any given week that [This Week in Rust] is a vital resource for
+anyone hoping to keep up. Second, its *welcoming spirit*. Rust's core message is
+one of empowerment—you can write systems code even if you would never have
+dared write C++—and that's reflected in the community. We're all here to
+learn how to be better programmers, and support each other in doing so.
+
+[This Week in Rust]: https://this-week-in-rust.org/
+[community]: https://www.rust-lang.org/community.html
+
+There's never been a better time to get started with Rust, whether through
+attending a local [meetup], saying hello in the [users forum], watching
+[a talk], or reading [the book]. No matter how you find your way in, we'll be
+glad to have you.
+
+[users forum]: https://users.rust-lang.org/
+[a talk]: http://www.infoq.com/presentations/rust-thread-safety
+[the book]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/
+
+Happy birthday, Rust!