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I would say give a nice look at C and C++, you are probably going to appreciate Rust a lot more if you know where your foot can be shot by it.

Learning just C/C++ is also completely fine, so don't think it is a waste of time or anything like that, both are not going to go anywhere and having them on your toolbelt will help even if you do decide to go with Rust in the future.

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Agreed. Learn C++ first, and you'll appreciate Rust more. But whatever you do, don't let expertise in one language become a chain holding you back from learning others. I know a lot of people who are afraid to go from being an expert in X to a beginner in Y, and this tendency is even more pronounced when X is hard to master, but it's a trap. A language that's hard to master will continue to waste your time forever. It's a classic hill climbing problem. Sometimes you have to go down through the Valley of Noob so you can climb a higher hill. Then you can look down at all the people who stayed with C++.

To me saying learn C++ to appreciate Rust sounds like advising someone to bang their head against the wall first because when they stop it will feel good.

Heh, there's a grain of truth to that. I think the metaphor I'd use is to try building a table or felling and trimming a tree using hand tools before getting out the power gear. Some people do like the manual approach, sometimes it's even the right choice, but generally letting the tools do the work is the better idea.

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