How do you rewrite C/C++ projects to Rust?

Name: How do you rewrite C/C++ projects to Rust?
Uploaded: 2026-07-08T06:44:49.000Z
Duration: 1 h 11 min 44 s
Channel: JetBrains

JetBrainsJuly 8, 20261h 11m

Topics38

Welcome and Guest Introduction0:14 Luca Palmieri's Programming Journey0:32 First Contact with Rust2:30 Early Rust Contributions and Career Development3:30 Advice for Teaching Rust5:01 The Shift from Meme to Reality in Rust Migrations9:30 Drivers Behind Rust Migration Decisions12:30 Growing Rust Expertise in Industry13:30 Projects That Benefit Most from Rust Migration15:00 Full Rewrite vs Incremental Migration Strategy17:30 Challenges with Packaged Software Migration20:00 Factors Affecting Migration Strategy21:00 Characteristics of Successful Incremental Migration22:30 Starting the Migration Process24:34 Initial Integration Challenges25:30 Building Confidence Through Small Wins26:31 Two Primary Migration Strategies27:06 Third Approach: Mechanical Translation28:32 Cultural and Philosophical Differences29:32 Allocator and Memory Management Considerations30:33 Working with Raw Pointers and Unsafe Code31:31 Java/Kotlin vs Rust/C++ Interoperability33:30 Memory Safety Across Language Boundaries35:00 Common Migration Mistakes36:32 Cbindgen and C2Rust Tooling41:00 C2Edgen Development44:00 Using AI During Migration49:02 AI Integration in Mixed Codebases54:02 AI's Impact on Migration Feasibility55:01 Essential Learning Path for Migration Teams56:31 Recommended Migration Resources57:31 Hiring Experts and Training Options1:00:00 Deliberate Practice with AI Assistance1:01:31 Building Capability Through Practice1:03:00 Development Tools for Mixed Codebases1:05:31 Five-Year Outlook on C to Rust Migrations1:06:00 Shift in New Project Language Choices1:07:30 EuRust Conference Information1:09:00

In a Nutshell

Luca Palmieri argues that Rust migrations succeed when companies treat them as incremental engineering projects rather than big-bang rewrites: start with self-contained C modules that only need to call Rust, integrate build systems and bindings early, and expand the Rust surface while shipping continuously. The biggest risks are underestimating timeline and training, and letting the two codebases drift out of sync; the biggest gains come from using AI to accelerate testing and guard-rail creation while developers stay in control of design and correctness.

AI-Generated Notes

These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.

Luca Palmieri, book author, speaker, principal engineering consultant, and main matter, joined the Rust Stroa live stream series to discuss migrating C/C++ projects to Rust.

Luca's first programming experience occurred at age 13-14 when he used PHP with the Symfony framework and the LAMP stack to build websites and small blogging platforms. After a significant gap, he studied programming again in university while pursuing mathematics, focusing primarily on linear algebra with C, Python, and MATLAB. His professional programming career began when he left university to work as a machine learning engineer and data scientist, where he was primarily using Python.

While working as an ML engineer, Luca needed to write custom models beyond what could be assembled from NumPy, SciPy, and scikit-learn calls. Since Python wasn't fast enough for this work, native extensions using Cython or C++ were required. His CTO recommended Rust as a fast language that could handle these requirements. Luca downloaded the Rust book in PDF format and read it during a flight, finding it interesting enough to pursue further.

Luca's first PRs were contributed to ndarray, the main NumPy alternative in the Rust ecosystem. He continued using Rust as a side tool for a couple of years until landing at TrueLayer, where he transitioned career-wise to become a backend engineer using Rust primarily for backend work, which led to writing his book.

Luca provided several pieces of advice for teaching Rust, starting with finding an ecosystem gap by surveying existing materials to determine if there's something new to contribute or a different approach to take. He emphasized that creating learning material is usually a significant effort that cannot be completed in a few evenings.

The second piece of advice is to use the exercise of writing learning materials as a way to become an expert on a topic, noting the significant difference between being able to do things and being able to explain concepts effectively to other people. Writing also provides visibility for expertise and reaches people through unexpected channels, potentially leading to new connections, jobs, or clients.

Companies are now actively migrating to Rust because the language has moved from being considered experimental to becoming "boring software" - normal, production-ready, and widely used. This shift occurred because major companies have successfully used Rust for mission-critical software over the past five to six years, removing the risk of being the "canary in the coal mine."

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How do you rewrite C/C++ projects to Rust?

Welcome and Guest Introduction00:14

Luca Palmieri's Programming Journey00:32

First Contact with Rust02:30

Early Rust Contributions and Career Development03:30

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