John Smith

Aaaargh. I would recommend Rust not be your very first language, because it has a very steep Iearning curve and the reason why it is the way it is won't be appreciated without knowing other languages. I would start with C, myself.

You should definitely learn Rust, but perhaps not as a first language. You need to learn what sucks first.

Regardless of someone's skill level, my advice is: - The book: https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/  - Rust by example: https://doc.rust-lang.org/rust-by-example/ … And it took me a couple of months to really get into Rust. Keep approaching it from different angles if it doesn't work out!

I disagree with others. It isn't clear that learning Rust as a first language is particularly hard compared to other languages. Much of what people attribute to the learning curve is, in my opinion, more of an "unlearning" curve. If you have nothing to unlearn, the curve...

random piece of advice for reading programming books: type out every code example without using copy and paste to get a feel for the language. then run then. then change them.

Start here: https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/  If you have major trouble getting up and running, then drop back to an easier language and come back to rust later. Personally, I do not recommend python. It's just about polar opposite of rust and generally terrible. Maybe try Go.

It says, “This book assumes that you’ve written code in another programming language but doesn’t make any assumptions about which one...If you’re entirely new to programming, you would be better served by reading a book that specifically provides an introduction to programming.”

Although the book tends to (IMO) overexplain concepts that should already be familiar to programmers, it may still be quite a challenge to those new to programming.

Yes. It will be rather steep for a beginner, but may still be in reach for some. Some people learned C first no problem, I didn't. My point is that it doesn't hurt to try with the free docs, you just might get it.

For sure. It’s worth a try anyway. And it may be possible to pick up a more basic programming book in another language and just use it as a glossary (ie, what is a function). (I would worry about suggesting the Internet/Wikipedia for cross-referencing.)

The strength of cargo alone (build + package management) should be a huge boon to any new programmer.

My pithy advice: - Write lots of code. Push yourself to improve on it. - Read lots of code. Push yourself to understand what others have done. - Explore other programming languages. Every lang you gain familiarity with will make you better at every other lang.

I would recommend to learn Python first.