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“Choosing the wrong programming language is the sure shot key to an unsuccessful website or mobile application”
Everyone wants to choose the best programming language for their website or mobile app. However, with a plethora of options available in the market already, it becomes a little difficult for a web development company to choose one.
Rust vs Go are two such popular programming languages that are gaining significant spot in the market. Both of them have their own pros & cons and clear differences that cater to different user requirements. For instance, Go is popular to build web apps that can be scaled easily and Rust is popular for building complex, secure applications.
To make you further clear on this, the article will compare the two programming languages, Go vs Rust, in detail. We will cover significant points such as rust vs go performance, memory safety, developer experience, language popularity, concurrency, learning curve, and community & support.
Created by Mozilla Research developers, Rust is a high level programming language that is used to build secure, high yield apps & software. Launched in 2015, the language is a general purpose and multi paradigm language developed by Graydon Hoare along with Brendan Eich, Dave Herman, and team.
Notably, Rust was voted as the most loved programming language and was also the fastest growing language between 2021 and 2022.
| Rust is a low-level statically-typed multi-paradigm programming language that’s focused on safety and performance. — Gints Dreimanis |
Embedded systems need programming languages that have low overhead, just like Rust. Rust is resource efficient and facilitates developers to prevent any mishaps in the future with the device by identifying bugs early.
Whatever code abstraction you choose, Rust for web development is kind enough to support it all. Any type of code, including loops and closures, can be used; they will all compile into the same assembly without compromising the efficiency of your program.
Rust is incredibly good at providing low-level details with ease. Because it doesn’t need a garbage collector to operate constantly in the background, it has direct access to hardware and memory.
This implies that writing low-level code in Rust is similar to writing code for a microcontroller application. You can change any part of the code at will without endangering memory safety.
Rust supports cross platform development, i.e. developers can build solutions for different operating systems, including macOS, Windows, Linux, etc. Additionally, Rust can also be used to code backend & frontend of an application, making it an ideal choice for building platforms.
Apart from this, Rust for web development also supports WebAssembly that makes it a good choice for writing web app codes. With the availability of frameworks like Actix, Nickel, and Rocket, the web application development is much easier with Rust.
Rust is statically typed. Effective programming is centered on handling complexity. The complexity of the code increases with its size. Because statically typed languages let you monitor what’s happening in the code, they enable a great degree of simplicity.
Additionally, Rust is tightly typed, which makes it more difficult to build bad program in Rust. Further, Rust for web development doesn’t require repeating same type of variable several types, thus encouraging long-term maintainability.
In summary, Rust makes it possible to use nesting and closures, which enhance code maintainability.
Rust outperforms languages like Python and performs on par with C++. Rust runs quickly because garbage collection isn’t an issue. Rust does not have runtime checking, in contrast to many other languages, and the compiler catches incorrect code early on. This stops incorrect code from spreading and causing major problems for the system.
Finally, as was already established, Rust also operates blazingly quickly on embedded systems.
In comparison to its peer languages, Rust compiles code a little bit more slowly. Its “unit of compilation” is a whole package (referred to as a crate), which explains why its compilation process is so slow. Rust crates have the ability to contain numerous modules, making them substantial compilation units. Even when whole-of-crate optimization is completed, whole-of-crate compilation is still necessary, and it takes time.
It also features an intricate compiler tool chain, which involves passing a large amount of code to LLVM and creating several intermediate representations.
Unlearning ideas and methods you’ve probably used since the start of your programming career is part of learning Rust. For instance, earlier languages like JavaScript and Java require the concepts of scope and ownership, which Rust demands to give up.
To take full advantage of Rust’s advantages, you will need to give up some comfortable features that may cause issues. Some would argue that the syntax of the Rust language is overly difficult. Rust developers may consider the syntactic complexity of the language to be a desirable tradeoff for creating intricate, multithreaded tools.
Rust is a relatively younger language as compared to its other peers. Additionally, there are only few companies in the market that use the language. As a result, there are few job offers and thus fewer developers for Rust, making the market comparatively smaller. However, the market is expected to grow for Rust in the future and more people are anticipated to adopt the tech.
Go, also popularly known as Golang, is an open source programming language to build cloud, web application, networking services, and other types of software. The language is used by web developers in different frameworks and operating systems to build applications and is similar to Python. Go programming language is popular for writing microservices due to its ability to run without VM (Virtual Machine), fast startup time, and low runtime overhead.
The programming language, started in 2009, was built by Google developers Ken Thompson, Rob Pike, and Robert Griesemer. The language has since rose to new heights and is used by top companies including, Dropbox, Cloudflare, MongoDB, Netflix, Uber, Google (obviously), and Twitch.
| Go is an open-source programming language that makes it easy to build simple, reliable, and efficient software. — golang.org |
Go for web development is a compiled language, which means that program run in a format that is recognized by the processor. Some languages, like Java, need the code to be compiled into bytecode before the virtual machine can run it. Go has shown to be not just faster than languages like Python or Java, but it also improves the dependability and availability of services.
If a software developer has a strong foundation in Java or C, they should think about learning Golang. Go follows the same procedural approach, so while the keywords and syntax may differ significantly, getting started with Go is simple.
The ability to teach a complete novice how to create an application using Golang in a matter of hours is something that developers frequently commend.
Golang’s ability to facilitate concurrent programming is a major factor in your decision to use it. Goroutines are functions that can operate independently and concurrently in the Go programming language.
The goroutines in Golang function exactly as Java’s thread does not—they are a memory-consuming heavyweight. In theory, you can run thousands of GoRoutines without worrying about your system collapsing. Using software that is more efficient and compact can provide you an advantage over your competitors.
Web application development tools for newer programming languages are often missing. With Golang, this isn’t the case though. It is true that Go does not have the same range of third-party tools as Java. On the other hand, Go for web development comes with extensive tools that simplify coding for developers and offers IDEs for programming, such as Visual Studio Code and others.
The Go GitHub repository offers a wide range of editors, integrated development environments, and plug-ins for download.
Golang is the most in-demand programming language worldwide, according to Hired. Businesses are starting to realize how beneficial Golang may be for them, and many developers are brushing up on their Golang knowledge. Gaining access to a talent pool that will only expand with time is possible when Golang is used in the software plan. It will probably select a developer with Go experience.
Go programming language is a strictly written language, thus it’s not quite as descriptive as Python. The identical work would require hundreds of lines of code from a coder, but only a few lines of Python code could do it. The lengthy time required for programming can discourage teams from working toward deadlines when developing their software.
Golang does not have a virtual machine that makes the standalone binaries huge. They need to make up for the power of virtual machine, making something as small as “Hello World” consumes as much as 2MB data. In other words, the absence of virtual machine increases the usage of RAM for even smaller, simpler programs. As a result, this can create issues or limit the usage for complex projects, making it ineffective for large, enterprise applications.
A block of code that receives input, processes it, and outputs the result is referred to as a “function.” On the other hand, generic functions are sets of identically named functions that, at compile time, take different input types.
Developers are forced to create several processes to handle various parameter types when generic functions are not supported. Like C, on which Golang is based, the lack of generic components can significantly reduce the amount of code that can be reused and the productivity of developers.
| Aspect | Rust | Go |
|---|---|---|
| Release Year | 2015 | 2009 |
| Performance | High Performance & Control | Efficient & good performance |
| Ease of Learning | Complex | Easy |
| Concurrency | Async; Threads | Goroutine; channels |
| Memory Management | Ownership Model with Compiler Check | Garbage Collector |
| Development Speed | Slow | Faster |
| Purpose | Safety & Systems Programming | General; Concurrent |
| Syntax | Expressive, modern syntax | Easy to read, C-like syntax |
| Memory Safety | Strong, high memory safety | No memory safety guarantee |
| Error Handling | Explicit Error handling | Panic on failure, returns errors explicitly |
| Community | Smaller but active community; Mozilla support | Large & active community; Google support |
When it comes to comparing the Rust vs Go performance, Rust outperforms the latter one. Go & Rust both produce efficient codes and are compiled languages. While a web development company uses Rust to boost their platform’s speed, Golang is popular in the market for cutting the responsible servers.
Golang was created by Google as an alternate to C++ that could be optimized to run on multi-core CPUs and was easy to code & learn. The language is quite popular for its concurrency among developers.
In comparison, Rust doesn’t need a garbage collector to run in the background and developers have full freedom to replace code without any memory safety risk.
Nevertheless, a straightforward benchmark test demonstrates that Rust outperforms Go in a wide range of activities.
GO vs Rust Performance for Common Data Structures
Depending on the particular project and the level of experience of the programmer, Rust and Go for web development have different speeds. Go’s syntax may make it easier to work with than Rust.
Go has an easy-to-read and write syntax that is simple. It can make learning to write Go code easier and faster for newcomers.
Go’s concurrency capability is another factor that might make it easier to work with. Concurrent programming is supported natively by Go, making it simple to develop code that can run numerous processes at once. Go can be developed faster than languages like Rust, which lack built-in concurrency support.
Because of their memory management and security features, Rust and Golang both are perfect for cloud computing. To address potential weaknesses and flaws, Golang provides a number of paradigms, including automatic garbage collection and memory allocation. The Go programming language automates tasks at runtime, relieving developers of the laborious task of allocating or deleting memory.
In contrast, Rust guarantees that there are no memory leaks during compilation. Additionally, memory leaks and null pointer references are prevented by the code not being generated until it is memory safe. As a result, developers must explicitly manage memory in order to be mindful of memory allocation, which creates a more difficult learning curve.
Go was created to manage several tasks at once and use CPUs efficiently. The introduction of Goroutines served the intended aim. They are independent, lightweight, and require fewer resources to operate. Go can operate with a large number of Goroutines thanks to these features, and performance is not compromised. In other words, they execute in parallel with other processes. It is no longer necessary to start new threads because of these.
On the other side, memory stability is guaranteed by Rust, which was just released with native async/awaits syntax. Therefore, when it comes to concurrency, developers prefer to work with Go.
Several Developers are actively using Rust and Go in a variety of tech-related domains and issues. The inclusive culture of the Rust community provides a wealth of information through forums, chat rooms, and rich documentation for both on- and off-development help. In order to offer insights into the state of the community, trends, and subjects influencing the language’s evolution, the Rust team also organizes an annual survey and a conference called RustConf.
With support from Google, the Go community boasts a sizable ecosystem and a wealth of resources, including official documentation, a specialized blog, and community-driven events like GopherCon. Both new and seasoned Go developers may be found in a variety of online forums, GitHub repositories, and Slack groups.
Popularity of languages as young as Rust and Go is difficult to quantify. Rust and Go aren’t quite as popular as languages like Python, JavaScript, or JavaScript, despite all the capabilities and benefits you’ve seen.
Stack Overflow reports that less than 10% of developers work with either Go or Rust. Nevertheless, Go is positioned as the top language at number 14, while Rust trails behind in number 26.
When Golang and Rust are compared, Go is a more widely used language.
Compared to Go, Rust has a far steeper learning curve. Go has a steeper learning curve than comparable languages like Python and JavaScript, even if it is comparatively easier than Rust. Though it has concurrency, Go was created with a syntax that is comparatively simpler than Rust and was embraced as a less complicated substitute for C++, which compromises memory allocation and memory safety.
However, Rust has excellent memory safety characteristics, and the need of passing pointers increases the complexity of the routines.
Rust is an excellent option when performance is important, like when processing a lot of data. Additionally, you have fine-grained control over how threads interact and exchange resources with one another thanks to Rust.
However, because of its additional memory safety complexity, Rust has a steep learning curve and slows down web application development speed. This isn’t always a bad thing, though, because Rust also ensures that memory safety issues won’t arise because the compiler verifies each data pointer. This is a useful assurance for complex systems.
Rust is a statically typed language that is used to build reliable, high performing applications. The language is popular among several companies globally, including –
Go is a fantastic substitute for Node.js when developing web APIs since it functions effectively in a wide range of use scenarios.
Furthermore, the HTTP web protocol is supported by Go by default. With the integrated HTTP support, you can easily create a small API and launch it as a microservice. Golang therefore fulfils the needs of API developers and blends in nicely with the microservices architecture.
To sum up, Go is a suitable choice if you prioritize ease of development over complex syntax. Furthermore, Go provides improved code readability, a crucial factor for big development teams.
Golang is a popular programming language and used by some of the top companies globally. Some of the companies that use Golang are –
Now the real question, which is actually better for you, Go or Rust? Both Go & Rust are excellent programming languages and come with their own strength and weaknesses. The essential factor is to analyze each project and choose based on your need. While Go is a popular choice among developers for ease of use and web application development speed, Rust is a top choice for building safety packed systems & applications. An ideal way is to consult a web development company with the relevant expertise and make them understand your requirements better before making a decision.
So, this was the ultimate comparison of Go vs Rust programming languages. Notably, it is not rational to choose a winner among Rust vs Go as both of them have their own pros & cons, as seen in the article. For instance, Golang is known in the market for ease of use and simplicity while Rust is popular for its high performance and safety packed features. However, the ideal programming language for your project depends upon your requirements, budget, resources available, and many other factors.
In case you are still confused about what to choose among Rust vs Go, then schedule a call with experts here to clear your doubts.
The choice of using Rust vs Golang depends upon several factors, including project requirements, resources available, budget, and many more.
Both Rust & Go are popular programming languages but differ in many ways. Rust is majorly used for building secure applications and is focused on eliminating run time bugs. Similarly, Golang is popular for its ease of use and building scalable applications.
Yes, we can use Rust and Go together in one application to take the advantage of both the programming languages. There are several methods to use them together such as using a FFI to call Rust functions from Go, and vice versa.
Yes, Golang is more popular than Rust, as much as four times to be specific. Go has established itself and has been in the market for longer time than Rust. Further, Go is simple to learn & understand and has set some high benchmarks by offering faster building speed as compared to other languages in the market.
Rust is a high performing, general purpose language that can be used almost anywhere. However, the most popular use case of Rust is in system programming due to its zero cost abstraction and high performance.
Golang is an open source programming language released by Google and can be used for a variety of project types. Some of the most popular use cases of Golang are cloud development, web development services, app development, software development, network programming, and databases.
Manish Jain is the co-founder and Managing Director at Konstant Infosolutions. He is responsible for the overall operations of the company and has played a major role in bringing Konstant up from its humble beginnings and, with his immense energy and drive, transforming it into a globally trusted name in IT solutions.
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