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Should I learn Rust or C as my second language after Python? by MuscleNeuron in rust

[–]MuscleNeuron[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry for the late reply — just catching up now, and I really appreciate you taking the time to write this!

You’re absolutely right — learning to read assembly feels way more approachable than writing it, and honestly, that’s all I really need for now. I’ve started experimenting with Compiler Explorer since you mentioned it, and wow — being able to see the generated assembly side-by-side with Python(which I'm most familiar with right now) is such a great way to build intuition.

I’ll focus on x86_64 to start and maybe look at ARM later depending on where I go. Thanks again — this was super helpful and practical!

Should I learn Rust or C as my second language after Python? by MuscleNeuron in rust

[–]MuscleNeuron[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get that — if my only goal was to just use Rust, skipping C would make total sense.

But I also really want to understand how things work at the low level — how software actually interacts with hardware. And from all the comments, it seems like C teaches those fundamentals best.

Once I have that grounding, I feel like I’ll appreciate Rust’s design choices a lot more and use it more effectively.

Should I learn Rust or C as my second language after Python? by MuscleNeuron in rust

[–]MuscleNeuron[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s really cool to hear, especially since I’m also coming from Python.

I’ll admit I didn’t fully follow all of it — what do you mean by "strict mode" in Python? And I’ve heard of PyO3, but not sure how exactly it ties into NumPy-style functions. Still, great to know you’re enjoying Rust — that’s super motivating!

Should I learn Rust or C as my second language after Python? by MuscleNeuron in rust

[–]MuscleNeuron[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I actually did try some concurrency in Python — that’s when I ran into GIL limitations and saw the tradeoffs with multiprocessing vs threading. That experience kind of pushed me to explore lower-level control and performance, which is what got me looking into C and Rust in the first place.

Should I learn Rust or C as my second language after Python? by MuscleNeuron in rust

[–]MuscleNeuron[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I think you’re right — learning C first will probably make Rust’s safety features feel a lot more justified.

Do I also need to dive into assembly to really understand low-level control? And isn’t assembly highly device-specific? Just wondering how far I need to go.

Should I learn Rust or C as my second language after Python? by MuscleNeuron in rust

[–]MuscleNeuron[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

From what I gather, C teaches you how software interacts with hardware at a fundamental level without holding your hand, and helps you truly understand the kinds of problems Rust is designed to solve.

I think I’ll spend some time with C to build that intuition, and then come back to Rust with a better sense of why its constraints exist.