no_std is more formalized, though C++ enforces the same thing by failing to link if you try using malloc (or whatever) when writing a kernel. no_std also means

no_std is more formalized, though C++ enforces the same thing by failing to link if you try using malloc (or whatever) when writing a kernel. no_std also means that it's very easy to tell if a crate works without the stdlib, so you can use code from the ecosystem instead of rolling your own. Ultimately the Rust OSes resort to some handwritten assembly as well. I think that's going to be a constant of writing a kernel. Rust is working to minimize it (e.g. with things like `extern "x86-interrupt" fn`), but at a kernel level there are just some kernel specific asm instructions (like all of the TLB stuff) that either compiler will probably never support generating without inline asm. So while Rust may be better than C++ at writing OSes (I'm not sure! I haven't looked at all the stuff you need to write an OS in C++), I do think they're in the same ballpark, close enough that if Rust is a "serious" competitor C++ probably is too :)