Microsoft is continuing the push to move over all of its C code to Rust in all of its product portfolios. The company is doing this as part of an acceleration of the previously established “Rewrite Everything in Rust” initiative.
Microsoft has been working for some time to replace the currently C/C++-based kernel code in all its products, from Windows and Office to the public cloud Azure, with Rust-written code. Reasons for this replacement include the fact that the old programming languages still contain many memory issues. It costs developers a lot of time to fix these errors.
The Rust programming language, on the other hand, is very memory-safe. This makes the code a lot safer and more reliable.
Now it’s also C#’s turn
As it turns out, now the C# code version at Microsoft is also due for replacement by Rust. According to the contributor on Medium, this is evident from a recent job posting by the Microsoft 365 team.
The team is looking for a Principal Software Architect to work on the adoption of Rust as the foundation for the platform and more.
Requirements therefore include a very high level of understanding of the Rust programming language. Job responsibilities include technical leadership, design and implementation of Rust component libraries and SDKs, as well as revamping global cloud services based on the Rust programming language.
Scaling up continues
Microsoft has been scaling up the use of Rust and the “Rewrite Everything In Rust” initiative across the board since last year. By now, 36,000 lines of Windows kernel code are said to have already been converted into Rust from C/C++.
Late last September, the tech giant showed a preview of the Azure Quantum Development Kit (QDK). This version is said to be written primarily in Rust.
Among other things, this SDK could easily “target” native binaries for any platform supported with the Rust compiler or run WebAssembly, via “wasm-binding” in browsers. The latter would realize up to 100 times more speed and also 100 times reduction in code size.
Also read: Why the Rust programming language keeps getting more popular
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