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Rust tops StackOverflow's ranking of most loved programming languages for the ninth time
The 2024 StackOverflow annual developer survey once again confirmed Rust's status as the most adored language in the community. For the ninth consecutive year, Rust takes the top spot in the "Most Loved Programming Language" category. This year, its popularity reached 83.5% among respondents, several percentage points higher than its closest competitors.
Why do developers love Rust so much?
Rust's success is explained by several key factors that make it unique among system languages:
- Compile-time memory safety — Rust guarantees the absence of null pointers, dangling references, and data races. This radically reduces the number of critical bugs.
- High performance — in terms of execution speed, Rust is comparable to C and C++, but offers a more modern and safe syntax.
- Predictability — the strict type system and ownership allow you to write code that works exactly as intended.
- Community and ecosystem — the Cargo package manager, tools like Clippy and Rustfmt make development comfortable and fast.
- Wide range of applications — from system programming and embedded devices to web development (via WebAssembly) and even CLI utilities.
What do the survey numbers say?
The 2024 StackOverflow survey covered over 65,000 developers worldwide. Rust scored 83.5% of the votes in the "Most Loved" category. Following it are:
- TypeScript — 73.1%
- Python — 72.8%
- Kotlin — 70.0%
- Go — 68.9%
Interestingly, Rust also ranks among the top highest-paying languages — the average salary for a Rust developer in the USA exceeds $170,000 per year.
Where is Rust used today?
Rust is no longer a "language for enthusiasts" and is actively being adopted in major projects:
- Linux Kernel — since 2022, Rust has been officially supported for developing kernel drivers and modules.
- Browsers — Firefox uses Rust for rendering components, and Google is testing Rust in Chrome.
- Development tools — utilities like ripgrep, fd, and bat are written in Rust.
- Cryptocurrencies and blockchain — Solana and many DeFi projects use Rust for smart contracts.
- Server-side development — frameworks like Actix and Rocket allow building high-load web services.
Is it worth learning Rust in 2024?
Definitely yes. Even if you don't plan to work with system programming, Rust provides a deep understanding of memory management and typing, which is useful for any developer. And thanks to the growing number of job openings and high salaries, the time investment in learning Rust pays off quickly.
On PythonLib, we regularly publish materials comparing Python and Rust, translations of documentation, and integration examples. Stay tuned for updates — there is a lot of interesting content ahead!
