Actually both C++ and Rust tend to make heavy use of reference counting via `std::shared_ptr<T>` and `Rc<T>/Arc<T>`, respectively. Personally I think that while Rust's borrow checker is nice for some cases and does encourage fast/efficient memory usage, it's also overkill vs automatic memory management for even most system or real-time programming. Especially as compilers get better and can remove 90% of the reference counting spots.

As esteban says, these types do get used more often in async code, which I don't write a ton of at the moment.

But more importantly, I think that if a beginner tries to use arc/rc to "get around the borrow checker" it introduces even more pain. It's not a beginner's tool, it's a possible misleading path. I left a comment a few years back with a practical example here; while the root cause isn't refcounting, look at how much ceremony they add https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24992537

If we were talking about clone, however, that would be a different story: clone is often a great tool for beginners who are struggling with a design that fits into what Rust wants.

And even then, the comment didn't qualify as "beginner code" or "expert code": it said that Rust programs generally "make heavy use of reference counting" and that's simply not my experience, nothing more, nothing less. Not only with my own code, but code I see others write, and libraries that I and others use. YMMV, as always.