It depends what you're trying to do. Some data structures inherently do not work comfortably with a single-mutable-ownership model, and while they're not exactly ubiquitous, they're common enough. (My exposure to rust is through advent of code where they're more common than in the real world).

Rust doesn't make it impossible, but you need to convert everything to Rc Refcell and there's a load of annoying crusty boilerplate, so it is more difficult. And yes, the guards in those calls can prevent or expose nasty errors, but a lot of the time - in a simple app you're writing to learn the language - the logic that keeps everything safe is so simple that an experienced programmer doesn't even think about it, and then it's confusing because it's not clear what you're being protected from :)

I think that is kind of the main point of Rust, though.

It's pretty easy to make something in C++. But it will very probably have a lot of hidden issues with memory, undefined behaviors and the like. Rust doesn't let you make those mistakes that much, and forces you to do it correctly and securely the first time, which is why it is harder to get into.

They are mostly harmless and may never cause problems for you, but that's how you get critical RCEs that are 8 years old in a software that's now widely used.

If you don't need this kind "ease traded for security", in my personal opinion I'd go with Zig instead.

It's worth it because it's not C++. If I could, I would get a job writing Rust. Or Zig as that other guy said. My shitty opinion:

• Zig <-> C
• Rust <-> C++

If your code touches sensitive stuff (eg. public networking) and needs to be low level, probably Rust (or another compiled memory safe language). Otherwise, just use C++.

if it's a hobby project you might check out zig, it has a lot of safety like rust but much simpler. just be aware major changes can happen as it's not a 1.0.0 release yet but from my experience their change guide is really thoughtful and lists any breaking changes and how to upgrade.