Where Is Rust Used?
A free lesson from Swipe Coding · Rust, level 1 · updated October 2026
By the Swipe team, founded by Colin · how we make lessons
Rust has become a serious option for systems-level programming, the kind of work traditionally reserved for C and C++. Parts of the Linux kernel now accept Rust code alongside its long-standing C codebase, and Redox is an entire operating system, including its kernel, written in Rust from the ground up.
Rust is also a favorite for building fast command-line tools. ripgrep, a blazing-fast text search tool, is written in Rust and is bundled inside popular editors like VS Code to power their search-everywhere features. Similar Rust-built tools like fd (a faster find) and bat (a nicer cat) have become popular replacements for decades-old Unix utilities.
Which of these is a popular command-line search tool written in Rust?
Rust also compiles cleanly to WebAssembly (Wasm), a portable, near-native format that runs inside web browsers. That lets developers write performance-critical pieces of a web app — image processing, physics, games — in Rust, and run them alongside JavaScript at speeds JavaScript alone often can't match.
On the backend, Discord rewrote several of its most latency-sensitive services in Rust, Dropbox uses it for parts of its file-storage infrastructure, and Amazon built Firecracker — the lightweight virtual machine technology behind AWS Lambda — entirely in Rust. Rust also underpins major blockchain projects like Solana, and the Bevy game engine is built with it too.
Amazon built ____, the lightweight virtual machine technology behind AWS Lambda, using Rust.
Rust cannot be compiled to WebAssembly, so it isn't used for browser-based applications.
Introduction to Rust
10 questions · pass with 60% — just like in the app.
Which best describes Rust?
Rust uses a garbage collector at runtime to manage memory.
Rust's ownership system enforces memory ____ at compile time, without a runtime garbage collector.
Who originally created Rust?
Rust reached its first stable 1.0 release in May 2015.
Rust's name is generally credited to ____ fungi, known for being extremely hardy.
What organization has stewarded Rust since 2021?
ripgrep, a popular fast search tool, is written in Rust.
Amazon built ____, the lightweight VM technology behind AWS Lambda, using Rust.
What does it mean for Rust to have "zero-cost abstractions"?
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