Programming languages · Comparison
Rust vs Go vs C++
Three compiled languages for fast, low-level or infrastructure code. They make different trade-offs between raw speed, safety and how easy the code is to write and read.
3 options · 8 questions side by side · updated
| Compare | Rust | Go | C++ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memory safety | Checked by the compiler, no garbage collector | Garbage collected, safe by default | Manual; up to the programmer |
| Speed | On a par with C++ | Fast, a step behind Rust and C++ | Very fast, with careful code |
| Learning curve | Steep: ownership and lifetimes | Gentle: a small, simple language | Steep: a huge language with many pitfalls |
| Compile times | Slow | Very fast | Slow on big projects |
| Concurrency | Threads and async, checked for data races | Goroutines and channels built in | Threads; safety is up to you |
| Tooling | Cargo builds, tests and fetches packages | The go tool builds, tests and formats | Many build systems, no standard package manager |
| Typical uses | Systems, CLIs, WebAssembly, Tauri apps | Cloud services, APIs, DevOps tools | Games, browsers, engines, embedded, finance |
| Maturity | Younger; 1.0 in 2015 | Mature for servers; 1.0 in 2012 | Decades of code; released in 1985 |
How to choose between Rust, Go and C++
- Pick Go for network services and tools where simple code and fast builds matter more than the last bit of speed.
- Pick Rust for performance-critical or security-sensitive code that must be fast without memory bugs.
- Pick C++ for games, existing C++ codebases and platforms where its compilers and libraries are the standard.
The options
- RustA fast systems language whose compiler rules out whole classes of memory bugs and crashes, without the pauses of a garbage collector.
- GoGoogle's deliberately simple, fast-compiling language for servers, cloud tools and command-line programs, with concurrency built in.
- C++Two closely related languages much of computing is built on, from operating systems and browsers to game engines and the chips inside household devices.
More comparisons
- JavaScript vs TypeScriptTypeScript is JavaScript with a type checker on top, so this is less a choice between languages than a choice of how much the tools check for you before the code runs.
- Kotlin vs JavaBoth run on the JVM, share libraries and can live in the same project. Kotlin is the newer, more concise option that Google recommends for Android; Java is the long-established standard for enterprise backends.
- Python vs JavaScriptTwo of the most common first languages. Both are easy to start with and dynamically typed; they differ mostly in where they run and what their ecosystems are built for.
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