What is rust?

This repository contains the source code for Rust, a programming language designed to help developers build software that is both fast and dependable. Rather than being a single app you install, this is the engine room of the language itself, including the compiler that translates code into runnable programs, the standard library of built-in tools, and the official documentation. Rust exists to solve a classic tradeoff in software: historically, languages that ran very quickly and used memory efficiently were prone to crashes and security bugs, while safer languages tended to be slower. Rust's design includes a built-in system that checks how a program uses memory and handles background tasks. This means it catches a whole category of common bugs before the program ever runs, without sacrificing speed. You get the performance of a low-level language with the safety of a higher-level one. The people who would use Rust are developers building things where performance and reliability really matter. That could be the backend services powering a fast-growing app, systems running on small embedded devices with limited resources, or tools that need to integrate smoothly with code written in other languages. It is also designed to be pleasant to work with day to day, shipping with a package manager called Cargo, an auto-formatter, a linter that catches common mistakes, and strong editor support. The project is open source and maintained by a broad community, with contributions guided by a detailed developer handbook. It is dual-licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0, which means it is free for anyone to use, modify, and build into commercial products. While most people simply install a pre-built version, the repository is there for anyone who wants to understand how the language works under the hood or contribute to its development.