An inexperienced programmer is much more likely to make security-critical mistakes writing C or C++ than Rust anyway, even if they’re aware of the concept of undefined behavior, so I think Rust still has an advantage in this case.

You should avoid using security-critical tools written by people who don’t understand security, regardless of language.

That’s not a rust problem. Misunderstanding and misusing a tool is an inexperienced person problem. It’s one thing you pay veterans more for.

I don't think there are going to be a large number of inexperienced Rust programmers. Inexperienced programmers write Javascript or Python, not Rust.

Some novices do in fact write Rust, just like how many of them gain experience in C and C++ during undergrad. With any luck, universities will adopt something safer like Rust…

Yet the vocal majority of Rust users present themselves as being inexperienced programmers. I expect it is not just an act – that the vocal majority truly are inexperienced, and I expect the segment of users who are novices is much larger than you suggest.

The fact of the matter is that the novices have always been drawn to the 'hot new technology' and it is unlikely that Rust, being today's 'hot new technology', is the exception. Indeed, Python and Javascript had time in the sun when they were considered hot, and novices were attracted in that direction at that time, but time continues to march forward.

> the vocal majority of Rust users present themselves as being inexperienced programmers

No they don't.

They do. To be fair, vocal majorities generally are inexperienced, even outside of Rust communities. Of course they are. What would someone with experience gain from such vocal exchange?

The vocal majority of Rust users are especially vocal in tech circles right now, though, because of it being the "hot new technology" and thus most attractive to inexperienced programmers. This does make their inexperience stand out in an especially prominent way. All "hot new technologies" have gone through this pain period.

That doesn't mean that there aren't experienced Rust users, but experienced users have no reason to talk about it. Their experience has already collected everything that could be gained through vocalization. Talking about it becomes boring at that point.