Many companies use Rust, and no wonder why since it is one of the most innovative and popular functional programming languages. It provides C-like performance while maintaining the memory security we know from languages like Nix, Haskell, or Python.
In this article, we will look which companies use Rust for their technological business development and try to figure out why they chose it.
Dropbox
Parts of Dropbox are built using Rust code. Writing, testing, and debugging such a platform is difficult due to the high concurrency. When working with parallel code and complex programs, Rust’s static types and comprehensive compile-time checks are superior to dynamically typed languages such as Python.
Figma
Figma is a web-based tool for designing vector graphics and web interfaces. Figma updated its multiplayer game synchronization mechanism with Typescript on Rust to improve performance, as their server could not keep up with the growing user mass.
The backend of source control for Facebook, now known as Meta, was first written in Python but rewritten in Rust. Meta needed a compiled language to rewrite the source control backend, and they liked Rust because of its security features. Since then, the development team of the source control system has switched to Rust.
Additionally, Facebook has used Rust in various projects, including the controversial cryptocurrency and blockchain project Libra. According to the developers, the Diem blockchain is written in Rust.
Discord
The client and server parts of the Discord codebase are written in Rust. For example, the team increased the number of simultaneous users to 11 million by using native implemented Elixir functions. In addition, Discord rewrote its Read States service in Rust; originally, it was written in Go.
Amazon
Amazon is an online marketplace selling products directly or as a link between various stores and customers. Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon, uses Rust. Why? It helps to develop high-performance, secure network infrastructure and other system software. Firecracker, Amazon’s first noteworthy Rust-based product, was released in 2018.
Mozilla
Mozilla Corporation is considered a subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation and controls/integrates the development of Internet software, such as the Firefox browser, by a massive community of creators. Incidentally, Stylo, Firefox’s CSS engine, was created with the implementation of Rust. The firm was also the first investor in Rust.
Cloudflare
Cloudflare is a South American firm specializing in web infrastructure and security, whose main focus is content delivery networks and defense against DDoS attacks. It mainly acts as a proxy for sites between users and hosting providers. Cloudflare uses Rust because it’s a remarkable language with first-rate WebAssembly assistance and a rich ecosystem.
Coursera
Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng made Coursera in 2012 to give people life-changing learning abilities. Right now, Coursera is a massive online learning platform that allows people to access online courses from major universities and firms. The entire platform is written in Rust.
Npm
After being founded in 2014, GitHub acquired npm in 2020. The npm is a vital component of the JavaScript community, contributing to one of the world’s largest developer ecosystems. The npm engineering team chose Rust instead of Node.js to solve the problem of processor-bound operations, which interfered with performance due to rapid growth.
Conclusion
You should study Rust because it has introduced innovative technologies into browser engines. Rust can also work on the backend and the frontend of online applications. Learning Rust is necessary to create fast and reliable web applications that can be accessed from any location and device. If that is not enough, look one more time at our list of companies and imagine how you will be able to work in one of them.
Experienced developers are quite picky, and not everyone is ready to change their preferences. However, Rust is a language that meets the needs of many programmers and solves most of today’s development tasks.
