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Rust VS Kotlin

Compare Rust VS Kotlin and see what are their differences

Rust logo Rust

A safe, concurrent, practical language

Kotlin logo Kotlin

Statically typed Programming Language targeting JVM and JavaScript
  • Rust Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-09

We recommend LibHunt Rust for discovery and comparisons of trending Rust projects.

  • Kotlin Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-09

We recommend LibHunt Kotlin for discovery and comparisons of trending Kotlin projects.

Rust features and specs

  • Memory Safety
    Rust’s ownership system guarantees memory safety without a garbage collector, preventing common bugs such as null pointer dereferencing, buffer overflows, and data races.
  • Performance
    Rust aims to provide memory safety while maintaining high performance. It is often as fast as C and C++ due to zero-cost abstractions.
  • Concurrency
    Rust's ownership and type system make it easier to write safe concurrent code, helping developers avoid concurrency issues.
  • Tooling
    Rust has excellent tooling, including the Cargo package manager and build system, and Rustfmt for code formatting.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    Rust has a growing community and ecosystem, with active contributions and a wide range of libraries and frameworks available.
  • Strong Typing and Error Handling
    Rust’s type system and pattern matching compel developers to handle errors and edge cases, leading to more robust and predictable code.

Possible disadvantages of Rust

  • Learning Curve
    Rust’s advanced features such as its ownership system and lifetimes can be difficult for beginners to grasp, making it harder to learn compared to some other languages.
  • Compilation Time
    Rust can have longer compilation times, especially for large codebases, which can slow down the development process.
  • Ecosystem Maturity
    Although growing, Rust's ecosystem is not yet as mature as those of more established languages like JavaScript, Python, or even C++, leading to fewer available libraries and frameworks for certain tasks.
  • Complexity of Code
    The strictness of Rust's borrow checker can lead to more complex and verbose code as developers explicitly manage ownership and lifetimes.
  • Tool and Library Development
    Despite the rapid growth, some tools and libraries are still under development or lack the polish of their counterparts in more mature languages.

Kotlin features and specs

  • Interoperability
    Kotlin is fully interoperable with Java, which means developers can use both languages within the same project and have seamless communications between them.
  • Conciseness
    Kotlin reduces boilerplate code, making the codebase easier to read and maintain. It offers concise syntax and reduces the amount of code.
  • Null Safety
    Kotlin's type system is designed to eliminate null pointer exceptions by making all types non-nullable by default, thus enhancing reliability and reducing runtime crashes.
  • Coroutines
    Kotlin provides built-in support for coroutines, which makes writing asynchronous code more straightforward and readable compared to traditional approaches.
  • Modern Language Features
    Kotlin includes advanced features such as lambda expressions, extension functions, higher-order functions, and more, improving productivity and providing more expressive code constructs.
  • Full Tooling Support
    Kotlin is supported by major IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA, Android Studio, Eclipse, and others, with full tooling support including debugging, refactoring, and linting.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    Kotlin has a growing and vibrant community with extensive resources, libraries, and frameworks that support a wide range of programming needs.

Possible disadvantages of Kotlin

  • Learning Curve
    Despite its modern features, Kotlin has a learning curve, especially for developers who are more familiar with Java or other programming languages.
  • Compilation Speed
    Kotlin's compilation speed is often slower compared to Java, which can impact the development workflow, especially in larger projects.
  • Runtime Performance
    While Kotlin performs comparably to Java in many cases, there can be minor performance hits in certain scenarios due to additional language features.
  • Fewer Resources Compared to Java
    Although growing, Kotlin's ecosystem of libraries and frameworks is still smaller compared to Java's well-established and extensive ecosystem.
  • Tooling Maturity
    While support in major IDEs is robust, some third-party tools and plugins may not fully support Kotlin, leading to potential integration issues.
  • Android Specific Challenges
    In the context of Android development, some legacy libraries and tools might not be fully compatible with Kotlin, necessitating additional workarounds.
  • Job Market
    While demand for Kotlin developers is growing, Java still dominates the job market, which may limit opportunities for Kotlin-focused roles in certain regions.

Rust videos

Rust Crash Course | Rustlang

More videos:

  • Review - Why You Should & Shouldn't Learn the Rust Programming Language
  • Review - All About Rust

Kotlin videos

10 reasons to try Kotlin for Android development

More videos:

  • Review - What can Kotlin do for me? (GDD Europe '17)
  • Review - Java or Kotlin for Android Development – Which One Is Better?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Rust and Kotlin)
Programming Language
53 53%
47% 47
OOP
55 55%
45% 45
Generic Programming Language
Learning Resources
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Rust and Kotlin

Rust Reviews

Top 5 Most Liked and Hated Programming Languages of 2022
A survey by Stack Overflow reveals that about 83.5% of 90000 developers loved Rust and tagged it to be the most adorable programming language. Rust is that general-purpose programming language that mainly caters to excellent performance and safety. This multi-worldview programming language has syntax similar to that of C++.
Top 10 Rust Alternatives
Several programming languages like Rust are among the popular ones. However, people are in search of some good alternatives to Rust. Therefore, today we will be talking more about the top 10 alternatives to Rust.
The 10 Best Programming Languages to Learn Today
Rust is a fairly advanced language, so you'll want to master another language or two before learning Rust. But you'll find that learning Rust pays off generously. The average salary for a Rust developer in the U.S. is $105,000 per year.
Source: ict.gov.ge

Kotlin Reviews

Explore 9 Top Eclipse Alternatives for 2024
Cross-platform development with variants targeting JVM (Kotlin/JVM), JavaScript (Kotlin/JS), and native code (Kotlin/Native).
Source: aircada.com
Top 10 Rust Alternatives
The last computer programming language to stand out as an exceptional alternative to Rust is named Kotlin. It is typed statically and was manufactured for Java machines.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Kotlin should be more popular than Rust. It has been mentiond 81 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Rust mentions (48)

  • Useful Clippy lints
    Hello! Rust has very useful tool, named Cargo. It helps you compile code, run program, run tests and benches, format code using cargo fmt and lint it using clippy. In this post we'll talk abou Clippy. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Minimalist blog with Zola, AWS CDK, and Tailwind CSS - Part 1
    What are we going to do today? We're going to build a minimalist blog using Zola (built with Rust, btw), AWS CDK, Tailwind CSS, and a tiny bit of Typescript. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • This Tool can remove 98% Bloatware apps
    Effortlessly remove up to 98% of bloatware apps from your Android device without needing root access. Developed in Rust for efficiency and reliability. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • What Language Should I Choose?
    One language that really gave me that feeling was Gleam, it managed to wrap everything I liked about languages such as JS, Rust and even Java into one brilliant type-safe package. Not for a long time before I met Gleam had I wanted to try creating so many different things just to get to the bottom of how this language ticked, as it were. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Learning Rust: Enumerating Excellence
    Let's dive back into Rust! This time we're going to be going through the lesson called "Enums and Pattern Matching". We're going to be looking at inferring meaning with our data, how we can use match to execute different code depending on input and finally we'll have a look at if let. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
View more

Kotlin mentions (81)

  • Doodle Weather Clone
    Doodle helps you create beautiful, modern apps entirely in Kotlin. Its render model is intuitive yet powerful, making it easy to achieve complex UIs with pixel level precision and layouts. This simplicity and power applies to everything from user input to drag and drop. Doodle lets you build and animate anything. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Kotlin vs. Java: A Grand Finale and Farewell (But Not Goodbye!)
    Kotlin Official Website: Your one-stop shop for all things Kotlin, with comprehensive documentation, tutorials, and resources: https://kotlinlang.org/. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Day 0 of #100daysofMiva || Setting up for success
    Next, I selected the technologies and frameworks I want to focus on during this challenge. For frontend development, I'll be exploring Reactjs, Vue.js, Bootstrap, Next.js, and MUI. For backend development, I'll be diving into Express, Django, Node.js, PHP, and Firebase. Additionally, I'll be learning Kotlin, React Native, and Flutter for mobile development, and APIs, PostgreSQL, Cloud, and MongoDB for full stack... - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Better Animations... in Latest Doodle
    Doodle helps you create beautiful, modern apps entirely in Kotlin. Its render model is intuitive yet powerful, making it easy to achieve complex UIs with pixel level precision and layouts. This simplicity and power applies to everything from user input to drag and drop. Doodle lets you build and animate anything. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • The Top Programming Languages to Learn in 2024
    Kotlin, fully interoperable with Java, is increasingly used for Android app development. It offers a more concise syntax and improved safety features compared to Java, making it a modern language for mobile development. Discover more about Kotlin here. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Rust and Kotlin, you can also consider the following products

Python - Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.

Java - A concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, language specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible

JavaScript - Lightweight, interpreted, object-oriented language with first-class functions

Dart - A new web programming language with libraries, a virtual machine, and tools

Haskell - An advanced purely-functional programming language

Typescript - TypeScript allows developers to compile a superset of JavaScript to plain JavaScript on any browser, host, or operating system.