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The first diagram shows that 35.5% of respondents don't use, or stopped using, rust. Its a shame they don't break this down between those who have never used i

The first diagram shows that 35.5% of respondents don't use, or stopped using, rust. Its a shame they don't break this down between those who have never used it vs those who have stopped using it. At the end of the results there's talk about why those who don't use rust don't use it, but again it doesn't separate out why people have never used it vs why people have stopped using it. I imagine it would be a very interesting to have had this split.

Manishearth 10y ago
Note that we tried to publicize the survey amongst non-Rustaceans, so I expect most of these respondents are those who never used it in the first place. We got an overwhelming positive response, especially in the freeform comments. There's also: > Equally encouraging is seeing that once someone has become a Rust user, they tend to stick around and continue using it. One might expect a sharp drop-off if users became quickly disenchanted and moved onto other technologies. Instead, we see the opposite. Users that come in and stay past their initial experiences tend to stay long-term, with a fairly even spread between 3 months to 12 months (when we first went 1.0).
- akerro 10y ago
  Thanks for your work guys. I took part in the survey when I found it on Reddit. Yesterday I started my first project in two new technologies, Rust and GTK. That's completely different experience and perspective of designing code after years of C++(Qt) and Java(backend). Now I wish I was earlier adopter :)
  - Manishearth 10y ago
    Thank you! I'd love to hear more about your experience, though perhaps once you have worked a bit more on the project :) Eh, early adoption is overrated -- you have to fight through lack of docs, lack of libraries, and general ecosystem issues, all while the language keeps changing underneath you :P (Note that not everyone who works on Rust; or even who worked on this survey, is a guy)
    - fiedzia 10y ago
      Note that many people use the term "guy" without relation to sex or even being a person.
      - Manishearth 10y ago
        I know. I'm not questioning the intention, I'm requesting the term not be used that way -- it is known to alienate people.
        adrusi 10y ago
        Communication is a two-way street. A polite speaker has to take into consideration how their audience wants to be addressed, but polite listeners need to take into consideration that the speaker's words are the speaker's. My autistic brother will get very anxious when he anticipates a specific phrase in response to something but the person words it differently from how he expects, and he then insists that the person repeat the phrase with the "correct" version. The motivation is different from blind political-correctness, but the crime is the same. Words are symbolic of experience, and even though we all generally agree on what words mean, different people associate them with different experiences, so they essentially have reimplementation of the same word. Why should one person have to fully accomodate one person's implementation of "guy" while the other person just ignores what they know the first person means by that word?
        weberc2 10y ago
        > it is known to alienate people I've not heard this before. Citation?
        alienated 10y ago
        > it is known to alienate people. So is language policing. The Rust Code of Conduct [0] states: Don’t just aim to be technically unimpeachable, try to be your best self. In particular, avoid flirting with offensive or sensitive issues, particularly if they’re off-topic; this all too often leads to unnecessary fights, hurt feelings, and damaged trust; worse, it can drive people away from the community entirely. You've brought up something off-topic (and potentially sensitive) when there was no real need, and definitely no ill-intent in the original - and just like the code of conduct predicted, it's already starting to develop in to unnecessary bickering. This sort of language policing is exactly the type of thing that can drive people away from a community - and was not really necessary in the original context. As per the Rust Code of Conduct the correct response would have been: if someone takes issue with something you said or did, resist the urge to be defensive. Just stop doing what it was they complained about and apologize Now, before you go on to defend yourself, the CoC further states: Even if you feel you were misinterpreted or unfairly accused, chances are good there was something you could’ve communicated better And that's something worth considering. Now, I know that the Rust Code of Conduct states that it is only enforced on official Rust venues, and so there is no expectation of you following it here on HN, but as a respected member of the Rust community I would hope it was something you would still follow in a public forum, out of respect for what it stands for. [0] - https://www.rust-lang.org/conduct.html https://www.rust-lang.org/conduct.html
StavrosK 10y ago
In the "people who have never used it" camp, I just started learning Rust and wrote a toy program yesterday. I was very pleasantly surprised by how helpful people in the IRC channel were, they were very patient and eager to help. I'm really liking everything I'm seeing in Rust so far.
viraptor 10y ago
I'd also like to see that. I'm in the "temporarily stopped using" camp. I love it, I got to the level where I don't fight the language anymore, but facing reality - I don't have a reason to use it. Everything I do at the moment, I can finish faster in Python and I know it's enough. (sysadmin / deployment / security tools) The moment I need good performance and safety (new protocol server?), I'll reach for Rust. But I don't have that many real problems where it's worth it.
- EugeneOZ 10y ago
  I went further and now I write in Rust with the same speed as with PHP. And my benefits: awesome system of errors handling, enums, match patterns, easy and safe multithreading, MySQL shared prepared queries, and majority of bugs is being catched by compiler (thanks to strict typing and a lot of checks in compiler).
  - egeozcan 10y ago
    So you jumped from PHP to Rust? That is very interesting. May I ask what you were doing in PHP that you do now in Rust?
    - EugeneOZ 10y ago
      REST API for Angular SPA and Ionic mobile apps. Few months ago I wrote this article: https://medium.com/@eugeniyoz/restful-api-in-rust-impressions-63250d611d15#.lwvaj7wce https://medium.com/@eugeniyoz/restful-api-in-rust-impression... A lot of things between me and Rust has changed since then, but all changes are positive :)
      - Argorak 10y ago
        Would you like to be featured on https://www.rust-lang.org/friends.html https://www.rust-lang.org/friends.html ? Feel free to click the link on the bottom.
        10y ago

Manishearth 10y ago

Note that we tried to publicize the survey amongst non-Rustaceans, so I expect most of these respondents are those who never used it in the first place. We got an overwhelming positive response, especially in the freeform comments. There's also: > Equally encouraging is seeing that once someone has become a Rust user, they tend to stick around and continue using it. One might expect a sharp drop-off if users became quickly disenchanted and moved onto other technologies. Instead, we see the opposite. Users that come in and stay past their initial experiences tend to stay long-term, with a fairly even spread between 3 months to 12 months (when we first went 1.0).

akerro 10y ago
Thanks for your work guys. I took part in the survey when I found it on Reddit. Yesterday I started my first project in two new technologies, Rust and GTK. That's completely different experience and perspective of designing code after years of C++(Qt) and Java(backend). Now I wish I was earlier adopter :)
- Manishearth 10y ago
  Thank you! I'd love to hear more about your experience, though perhaps once you have worked a bit more on the project :) Eh, early adoption is overrated -- you have to fight through lack of docs, lack of libraries, and general ecosystem issues, all while the language keeps changing underneath you :P (Note that not everyone who works on Rust; or even who worked on this survey, is a guy)
  - fiedzia 10y ago
    Note that many people use the term "guy" without relation to sex or even being a person.
    - Manishearth 10y ago
      I know. I'm not questioning the intention, I'm requesting the term not be used that way -- it is known to alienate people.
      - adrusi 10y ago
        Communication is a two-way street. A polite speaker has to take into consideration how their audience wants to be addressed, but polite listeners need to take into consideration that the speaker's words are the speaker's. My autistic brother will get very anxious when he anticipates a specific phrase in response to something but the person words it differently from how he expects, and he then insists that the person repeat the phrase with the "correct" version. The motivation is different from blind political-correctness, but the crime is the same. Words are symbolic of experience, and even though we all generally agree on what words mean, different people associate them with different experiences, so they essentially have reimplementation of the same word. Why should one person have to fully accomodate one person's implementation of "guy" while the other person just ignores what they know the first person means by that word?
      - weberc2 10y ago
        > it is known to alienate people I've not heard this before. Citation?
      - alienated 10y ago
        > it is known to alienate people. So is language policing. The Rust Code of Conduct [0] states: Don’t just aim to be technically unimpeachable, try to be your best self. In particular, avoid flirting with offensive or sensitive issues, particularly if they’re off-topic; this all too often leads to unnecessary fights, hurt feelings, and damaged trust; worse, it can drive people away from the community entirely. You've brought up something off-topic (and potentially sensitive) when there was no real need, and definitely no ill-intent in the original - and just like the code of conduct predicted, it's already starting to develop in to unnecessary bickering. This sort of language policing is exactly the type of thing that can drive people away from a community - and was not really necessary in the original context. As per the Rust Code of Conduct the correct response would have been: if someone takes issue with something you said or did, resist the urge to be defensive. Just stop doing what it was they complained about and apologize Now, before you go on to defend yourself, the CoC further states: Even if you feel you were misinterpreted or unfairly accused, chances are good there was something you could’ve communicated better And that's something worth considering. Now, I know that the Rust Code of Conduct states that it is only enforced on official Rust venues, and so there is no expectation of you following it here on HN, but as a respected member of the Rust community I would hope it was something you would still follow in a public forum, out of respect for what it stands for. [0] - https://www.rust-lang.org/conduct.html https://www.rust-lang.org/conduct.html

StavrosK 10y ago

In the "people who have never used it" camp, I just started learning Rust and wrote a toy program yesterday. I was very pleasantly surprised by how helpful people in the IRC channel were, they were very patient and eager to help. I'm really liking everything I'm seeing in Rust so far.

viraptor 10y ago

I'd also like to see that. I'm in the "temporarily stopped using" camp. I love it, I got to the level where I don't fight the language anymore, but facing reality - I don't have a reason to use it. Everything I do at the moment, I can finish faster in Python and I know it's enough. (sysadmin / deployment / security tools) The moment I need good performance and safety (new protocol server?), I'll reach for Rust. But I don't have that many real problems where it's worth it.

EugeneOZ 10y ago
I went further and now I write in Rust with the same speed as with PHP. And my benefits: awesome system of errors handling, enums, match patterns, easy and safe multithreading, MySQL shared prepared queries, and majority of bugs is being catched by compiler (thanks to strict typing and a lot of checks in compiler).
- egeozcan 10y ago
  So you jumped from PHP to Rust? That is very interesting. May I ask what you were doing in PHP that you do now in Rust?
  - EugeneOZ 10y ago
    REST API for Angular SPA and Ionic mobile apps. Few months ago I wrote this article: https://medium.com/@eugeniyoz/restful-api-in-rust-impressions-63250d611d15#.lwvaj7wce https://medium.com/@eugeniyoz/restful-api-in-rust-impression... A lot of things between me and Rust has changed since then, but all changes are positive :)
    - Argorak 10y ago
      Would you like to be featured on https://www.rust-lang.org/friends.html https://www.rust-lang.org/friends.html ? Feel free to click the link on the bottom.
      - 10y ago