That doesn't match my experience. C++ programmers typically use C++, because using libraries written in C++ from any other language is a miserable experience. I

That doesn't match my experience. C++ programmers typically use C++, because using libraries written in C++ from any other language is a miserable experience. It's rare to encounter C++ code with extensive low-level optimizations. If you are used to C++11 or newer, you should be able to continue writing very similar code in Rust. The only major issue I encountered was the lack of the idea that "because objects A and B have effectively the same lifetime, they can safely store references to each other, as long as..." But if you are used to older versions of C++, trying to write similar code in Rust is going to be painful.