[dronemallone]

Could you please explain why and how the Rust compiler is better than compilers for other languages? After all, every language compiles down to machine code/assembly. So, the reason that one language is "better" than the other has to do with the fact that the compiler for one language is "better" than another.

[kbenson]

It's not that the compiler is better, it's that the language requires you to specify some things other languages don't (or infers a default if not defined), and uses that to enforce specific conditions. It's very similar to using types in languages compared to not having types.

In the same way that type information can be used by the compiler to optimize out some operations, the type information and the variable lifetime and ownership information/rules allow for specific optimizations that are harder to assume in C.

That is, you can do the exact same operations in C and Rust, and because you were forced to define more constraints in Rust (or defaults were inferred without you defining them), the compiler can make stronger assertions about what is being done, so it allows for the possibility of more optimizations.

[kernelbandwidth]

Well, one major advantage for the Rust compiler is that it compiles Rust code, which I happen to have a decent bit of.

Joking aside, I'm not arguing that the Rust compiler is "better" than any other compiler. The Rust team seems to have done a great job with it, but I'm neither a PLT guy nor a compiler writer so I can't profess an informed opinion there. What I am interested in though is the Rust language semantics (which the compiler enforces, just as every correct compiler enforces the semantics of the language it compiles). Rust-the-language provides benefits that we (my company's engineering team) finds to be valuable for writing our software -- a strong, flexible, static type system; Option/Result types; the ownership model that promotes good practices and prevents a lot of concurrency bugs that a GC would not help with; drop semantics which allow interesting and powerful techniques with smart pointers. As a bonus, Rust-the-ecosystem includes some excellent and ever growing tooling that lets us focus more on solving development and business problems.

As for Rust-the-compiler, others have already done a better job than I think I can, so I'll let those comments speak to the issue.

Other people accomplish great things with other tools. Rust works really well for us though, and I like to share that.

[biokoda]

C/C++ compiler will compile your code if it is correct. Rust will not compile code if it can detect that it will not work or it is not safe even though the syntax is correct. It can guarantee the program is memory safe (double free, user after free, null dereferencing, using uninitialized memory, array bounds checks).

This makes large refactorings so much easier. It also makes working on large projects with lots of people much easier.

[turboladen]

I have to say that, despite working with only a few compiled languages, errors and warnings emitted from rust's compiler are far more helpful than any other I've used.

[fnord123]

The rust compiler rejects more programs which helps prevent wasting time testing at runtime.