This is a very common question: Should someone learn C first, or just go straight to Rust?

Recently, I found myself thinking about this exact thing. After a lot of thought, watching random YouTube videos, and reading discussions, I came to a conclusion: I should at least have a basic to intermediate knowledge of C.

Why? Because almost everything in systems programming is (or was) built on C. Understanding C gives you a foundation for how computers and operating systems work at a low level. It also helps you see the scenarios where you need to focus on making C code secure—because C lets you do whatever you want, and doesn’t ask many questions. If you learn the issues and solutions in C, you’ll have much better visibility and intuition when you move to Rust.

Rust has a learning curve. When the compiler fails to compile your code and shows you an error, it’s important to have a sense of why that error is happening. C doesn’t stop you from making mistakes, but Rust’s compiler is strict and tries to prevent entire classes of bugs before your code even runs.

One of Rust’s most interesting features is the borrow checker. This system enforces rules about how memory is accessed and prevents memory corruption and data races. Rust also implements a bounds checker to prevent buffer overflows. Of course, you can still write “unsafe” Rust if you need to, but the language encourages you to write safe code by default.

Rust isn’t perfect—there are still issues and rough edges—but for the next 40 years, it looks like Rust will be a major language for systems programming.

If you’re interested, this video from the Low Level Learning channel also explains this topic well: Should You Learn C Before Rust? (YouTube)

That said, the majority of the world still runs on C. So, for now, I’m pausing my Rust learning a bit and focusing on C. I want to build a solid foundation, understand the core concepts, and then return to Rust with a deeper understanding.