My path from Java to Rust: changing the technology stack

Hello, my name is Garik, and today I want to share with you the story of how I decided to change the technology stack from Java to Rust and what came of it.

Reasons for the transition

Like many developers, I started my journey with a specific technology stack, in my case it was Java. She provided me with everything I needed to work on projects, but over time I felt like I wanted to try something new.

The main reasons for switching to Rust were:

• Efficiency. Rust is known for its high performance and resource efficiency. I wanted to try how much this could affect the speed and quality of my code.
• Security. Rust provides developers with tools to create secure code, which is an important factor when developing complex systems.
• New features. Rust offers a lot of interesting features that I wanted to explore and apply in my projects.

The transition process

Moving to a new technology stack is always a challenge, especially if you are used to a particular language and frameworks. Here are a few steps that I have taken:

1. Language learning. The first step was to learn the Rust language itself. I started with official documents and tutorials to understand the basics of the language and its syntax.
2. Practice. After learning the basics, I started practicing writing code in Rust. I solved problems on platforms for programmers, wrote small projects, and experimented with various libraries and frameworks.
3. Ecosystem study. Rust has its own ecosystem of libraries and tools. I studied them to understand which tools might be useful to me in my work.
4. *Comparison with Java. To better understand the differences between Java and Rust, I compared their features, syntax, and development approaches. It helped me adapt to the new language and find the most effective solutions.

First impressions

When I started working with Rust, I immediately noticed several differences from Java:

• Syntax. Rust has a more concise and expressive syntax, which makes the code more readable and understandable.
• The type system. Rust uses a type system that allows for more precise control of code behavior and error prevention.
• Memory management. Rust uses a memory management system that differs from Java. This required me to explore new approaches and patterns.

Advantages and challenges

Working with Rust has brought me several advantages:

• High performance. Rust code runs faster than Java, which is especially important for projects that require high performance.
• Security. Rust tools help you create secure code, which reduces the risk of errors and vulnerabilities.
• New features. Rust offers many interesting features that can make the code more expressive and user-friendly.

However, the transition to Rust has also brought its challenges.:

• Learning a new language. As with learning any new language, it took time to get used to the syntax, type system, and other features of Rust.
• Adaptation to a new ecosystem. Rust has its own ecosystem of libraries and tools that need to be explored in order to work effectively.
• Changing approaches to development. Some of the approaches and patterns that I used in Java had to be adapted to Rust.

Conclusion

Switching from the Java stack to Rust was an interesting and informative experience for me. I learned a lot about the language, its features and ecosystem. Although the transition took time and effort, I’m sure it was the right decision.

I hope my experience will be useful to other developers who are considering switching to Rust.

Fuck Java)