Mozilla's Rust May Replace C++ in Firefox

Google is not the only one working on its own programming language. Mozilla is doing the same and has now debuted the first public release of a compiler and associated set of tools for the Rust programming language.

Rust aims to be similar to C and C++, in which Firefox itself is built, at least from a syntax point of view, but focuses on several goals in particular, memory safety and concurrency, both very important to modern software and browsers in particular. The goal is, eventually, to have Firefox, or at least parts of it, built with Rust.

The initial release can be considered an alpha at best. Everything should work, though there will be bugs, but Rust is not yet ready for actual production use. Instead, its creators want early adopters and language enthusiasts to put it through its paces.

There's more info in the official announcement and on the Rust website, along with source code.