src/foreword.md - rust-lang/book - Git at Google

 # Foreword

 It wasn’t always so clear, but the Rust programming language is fundamentally
 about _empowerment_: no matter what kind of code you are writing now, Rust
 empowers you to reach farther, to program with confidence in a wider variety of
 domains than you did before.

 Take, for example, “systems-level” work that deals with low-level details of
 memory management, data representation, and concurrency. Traditionally, this
 realm of programming is seen as arcane, accessible only to a select few who
 have devoted the necessary years learning to avoid its infamous pitfalls. And
 even those who practice it do so with caution, lest their code be open to
 exploits, crashes, or corruption.

 Rust breaks down these barriers by eliminating the old pitfalls and providing a
 friendly, polished set of tools to help you along the way. Programmers who need
 to “dip down” into lower-level control can do so with Rust, without taking on
 the customary risk of crashes or security holes, and without having to learn
 the fine points of a fickle toolchain. Better yet, the language is designed to
 guide you naturally towards reliable code that is efficient in terms of speed
 and memory usage.

 Programmers who are already working with low-level code can use Rust to raise
 their ambitions. For example, introducing parallelism in Rust is a relatively
 low-risk operation: the compiler will catch the classical mistakes for you. And
 you can tackle more aggressive optimizations in your code with the confidence
 that you won’t accidentally introduce crashes or vulnerabilities.

 But Rust isn’t limited to low-level systems programming. It’s expressive and
 ergonomic enough to make CLI apps, web servers, and many other kinds of code
 quite pleasant to write — you’ll find simple examples of both later in the
 book. Working with Rust allows you to build skills that transfer from one
 domain to another; you can learn Rust by writing a web app, then apply those
 same skills to target your Raspberry Pi.

 This book fully embraces the potential of Rust to empower its users. It’s a
 friendly and approachable text intended to help you level up not just your
 knowledge of Rust, but also your reach and confidence as a programmer in
 general. So dive in, get ready to learn—and welcome to the Rust community!

 — Nicholas Matsakis and Aaron Turon
	# Foreword

	It wasn’t always so clear, but the Rust programming language is fundamentally
	about _empowerment_: no matter what kind of code you are writing now, Rust
	empowers you to reach farther, to program with confidence in a wider variety of
	domains than you did before.

	Take, for example, “systems-level” work that deals with low-level details of
	memory management, data representation, and concurrency. Traditionally, this
	realm of programming is seen as arcane, accessible only to a select few who
	have devoted the necessary years learning to avoid its infamous pitfalls. And
	even those who practice it do so with caution, lest their code be open to
	exploits, crashes, or corruption.

	Rust breaks down these barriers by eliminating the old pitfalls and providing a
	friendly, polished set of tools to help you along the way. Programmers who need
	to “dip down” into lower-level control can do so with Rust, without taking on
	the customary risk of crashes or security holes, and without having to learn
	the fine points of a fickle toolchain. Better yet, the language is designed to
	guide you naturally towards reliable code that is efficient in terms of speed
	and memory usage.

	Programmers who are already working with low-level code can use Rust to raise
	their ambitions. For example, introducing parallelism in Rust is a relatively
	low-risk operation: the compiler will catch the classical mistakes for you. And
	you can tackle more aggressive optimizations in your code with the confidence
	that you won’t accidentally introduce crashes or vulnerabilities.

	But Rust isn’t limited to low-level systems programming. It’s expressive and
	ergonomic enough to make CLI apps, web servers, and many other kinds of code
	quite pleasant to write — you’ll find simple examples of both later in the
	book. Working with Rust allows you to build skills that transfer from one
	domain to another; you can learn Rust by writing a web app, then apply those
	same skills to target your Raspberry Pi.

	This book fully embraces the potential of Rust to empower its users. It’s a
	friendly and approachable text intended to help you level up not just your
	knowledge of Rust, but also your reach and confidence as a programmer in
	general. So dive in, get ready to learn—and welcome to the Rust community!

	— Nicholas Matsakis and Aaron Turon