3. Advanced Course 58. Solidity vs. Rust: What Are the Differences Between These Programming Languages?

58. Solidity vs. Rust: What Are the Differences Between These Programming Languages?

Solidity and Rust are two programming languages used by Web3 developers. They are the basis for applications built on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and Solana-compatible blockchains.

Ethereum and Solana are two of the most powerful public blockchains that rely on smart contracts and enable developers to build applications and dApps.

In today’s lesson, we will learn about these two programming languages and explain why the mentioned blockchains use them.

Solidity: Characteristics of the Language

Solidity is a programming language that allows developers to build smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). It is the most widely used language for creating smart contracts. It is very similar to JavaScript, so it is very easy to master.

Solidity is a purpose-built programming language for smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. It is object-oriented, high-level, and statically typed. It was developed by the Ethereum team, led by Christian Reitwiessner. Solidity is specifically designed to run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Just as a reminder, EVM is a runtime environment, acting as a virtual computer to run smart contracts.

The following features distinguish Solidity as a programming language:

Automatically built-in high functionality. With this language, there is no need to write explicit conditional statements to trigger specific actions based on conditions. Instead, the conditions themselves can be directly specified in the source code. Actions are executed when the conditions are met.
Solidity has built-in data types. We are talking about strings, arrays, floating-point numbers and integers. In addition, Solidity developers can freely define their data types and use them in the development and expansion of smart contracts.
This programming language supports digital assets. Solidity allows developers to switch between tokens on the Ethereum blockchain and other blockchains. Such flexibility makes it easier for developers to build applications that interact with fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.
Solidity offers developers a secure development environment, equipped with powerful features such as a compiler that checks code for errors. It warns us about any typos or potential problems that may occur when running the code. With the compiler, we reduce the chance of making a mistake when developing complex applications.

Blockchains Enabling Application Development Using Solidity

Not only Ethereum supports this programming language. Solidity can also be found in such ecosystems as:

Polkadot. This interoperable and public blockchain uses parachains to allow other blockchains to interact with each other.
Polygon – Ethereum’s sidechain. Here developers can create highly scalable, decentralized applications with low transaction costs.
Optimism – a layer 2 blockchain, compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
Fuel – a modular blockchain. Provides flexible capacity and maximum security.
Arbitrum – also a layer 2 solution, it moves computation off the main Ethereum network.
Celestial – a data availability blockchain for Ethereum. It orders and publishes transactions. It does not support computation.
Avalanche – a blockchain with Proof-of-Stake consensus. It aims to solve the blockchain dilemma.

Rust: Characteristics of the Language

A programming language designed to be fast, reliable and efficient. Designed as a “safe” type, which for programmers means that it prevents most of the common programming errors that generally lead to failures.

It has a large set of tools and libraries. They speed up and facilitate the entire programming process. It is an open-source, multi-paradigm language. Rust has strong support, especially for functional and object-oriented design.

The language is very similar to C++, except that its design provides memory safety without the use of “garbage collection”. Rust offers programmers a high degree of security at compile time.

Features that distinguish Rust as a programming language:

The ability to add an abstraction with zero cost. What’s more, this added abstraction has no effect on code performance. The effect? A more readable and higher-quality code.
In Rust, the language provides a type interface function that automatically determines the type of an expression.
A carry function that replaces the copy operation.
Pattern matching. Patterns in Rust are available in conjunction with match expressions. This provides more oversight over the control flow program. Some patterns are arrays, wildcards, variables or placeholders.
High memory security, achieved through Rust’s ownership system. In Rust, memory is managed and owned by variables. This ownership-based approach provides compile-time memory safety, eliminating the need for a garbage collector as required in languages like C++.

Blockchains That Work with Rust

The main blockchain that relies on this programming language is Solana. Here are additional blockchains that support Rust:

Sui. It is the first permissionless blockchain to run smart contracts written in the Move language.
Near – a layer 1 blockchain. It uses sharding in its operation to solve the scalability problem.
Aptos – another layer 1 blockchain based on Move (a Rust-based programming language for implementing smart contracts).

Solidity vs. Rust – The Ultimate Battle!

Solidity and Rust, two languages, two different purposes. Solidity is used to create smart contracts on Ethereum. Rust, a low-level programming language, is a general-purpose language.

So… let’s start this battle!

In terms of security, Rust has the advantage. All thanks to the memory security features. For Solidity, they are not as robust as in the case of Rust.

Round two. In terms of speed, Rust wins again. Solidity is slower, due to its high level of abstraction.

In terms of ease of use, this is where Solidity wins. The Rust programming language is much more difficult to learn. Solidity’s syntax is simpler.

We have a tie when it comes to multi-chain compatibility. Solidity, although primarily designed for Ethereum, also supports layer 2 blockchains, sidechains, modular blockchains, and those compatible with EVM. Similarly, Rust also supports multiple blockchains.

We also have a tie in terms of Turing completeness. A Turing-complete language is any programming language that can solve a computational problem regardless of its complexity.

In terms of paradigms, Rust emerges victorious once more. That is, it uses different paradigms (object-oriented, functional and imperative) to solve problems. Solidity remains rooted in the object-oriented paradigm.

Which Language to Choose for Creating Smart Contracts?

There is no clear answer here. The two languages are separate programming languages with completely different coding features. Solidity is an open-source language focused on smart contracts, based on Ethereum. On the other side, we have the Rust language, which supports multiple programming paradigms.

If we consider only smart contracts, Solidity wins because of its code readability, flexibility and ability to create multiple contracts. This language has several development tools, including Truffle and Remix, which make it even easier to create smart contracts.

Rust is not as widely adopted for smart contract development. It is also a relatively new language, but it is also highly reliable and secure. Rust is primarily utilized for building applications or services that require performance and security.

Before deciding between these languages, it is important to carefully consider the specific use cases you have in mind.

Summary

There is no definite answer as to which language is better. It all depends on what you want to use it for. Both Solidity and Rust were created to support building smart contracts and scale dApps. If you want to learn to code and are considering either of these coding languages, there are two key questions to consider: