I wonder how well that's worked out for them. My impression is that there's been a lot more people moving to Rust from Python/Ruby/Javascript than from C++.
There's a lot more Python/JS/etc developers than C++ developers, and Rust meaningfully offers something those languages don't, so I suspect you see a rush of folks from that world going to learn Rust and posting about it online.
However, I generally don't see or hear about Rust being used professionally except in a context where C or C++ would have been seriously considered as well.
In the meantime, chasing C++ programmers introduced problems. Template heavy code means that IDEs can't follow it well and there's problems with compilation time. C++ programmers never were keen on GC so D tried to introduce GC-free semantics for the language which aren't complete.
I don't think C++ programmers in general are worth chasing. If they stuck with C++ for such a long time, it means they are used to it and accept C++ with all its flaws. It's also my impression that Rust is attracting more JS programmers than C++.
This is also partly because there was never a language that fit the niche where GC isn't a good fit that brought enough to the table in the eyes of that space. Even today some improvements like being able to avoid UB or seemingly high level features like pattern matching are looked upon with suspicion.
> It's also my impression that Rust is attracting more JS programmers than C++.
I think this is a testament to how successful the efforts to bring high level constructs to the systems space have been, as well as the ongoing efforts to make the system level features be ergonomic and usable by as many people as possible.
If you have a theoretically perfect language that only three high priests in an ivory tower can use, then you don't have what Rust is trying to be.
People don’t use C++ because it’s convenient and easy, they use it because it’s one of the best widely used options/ecosystems if performance really matters.
Any other language targeting this space has to chase C++ users because C++ is so prevalent. It would be like coming up with a new general purpose dynamic language and not appealing to Python users, or a new stats modeling language and not appealing to R users.
Is there any reason in particular you think a lot of high-level language people are moving to Rust? That is not my impression or experience at all and I struggle to think of any reason to do so besides a large, individual change in career focus. As a higher-level language user myself, I can't think of a single reason I would ever use Rust for anything. Sure, I think it's cool, and it's always good to learn new languages, but in practise it's just not suited to my domain - and I think that goes for the vast majority of us.
I would say golang has scooped off more of the dynamic language types myself, although I also consider it a productivity downgrade and/or cargo cult to mostly be ignored without compelling reason. Which is even more the case with Rust!
I used to write primarily in highlevel languages, but if you want to write realy interesting high performance stuff in javascript, WASM+Rust is a really neat tech to use. Similarly, with WebGL/WebGPU you need some familiarity with bare metal programming.
I still write a lot of JS, but I regularly drop down to Rust.
Golang specifically has three things that turned me off as a replacement for Python in the early days before I got hooked on what Rust offers:
1. A disgust-inducing level of boilerplate use for things like error-handling and poor support for metaprogramming. 2. A design that not only lacks things like PyO3, but is implicitly hostile to FFI. 3. Git repository URLs as dependency references and "you figure it out" for ensuring they don't go away.