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## Rust: A popular programming language built by 1000s of contributors
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[Rust](https://www.rust-lang.org/) is a popular modern programming language,
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designed for performance, reliability and productivity, and used by hundreds of
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companies around the world. Organized into teams and working groups, the Rust
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project is led by [over 100 team members](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance)
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who oversee the work of [more than 6000
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contributors](https://thanks.rust-lang.org/).
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## Rust moves to Zulip, one team at a time
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Each Rust team decides independently how to organize itself and what
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communication tools to use. Every major Rust team has chosen Zulip as their chat
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platform, including the
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[Compiler](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/compiler),
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[Language](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang),
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[Library](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/library) and
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[Infrastructure](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/infra) teams. Some
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Rust teams have migrated between collaboration tools two or even three times in
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search of an effective solution. No team has moved away from Zulip after trying
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it.
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“Zulip lets us move faster, connect with each other better, and have interactive
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technical discussions that are organized, recorded, and welcoming to other
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people,” says [Rust Language
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team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang) co-lead [Josh
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Triplett](https://joshtriplett.org/).
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> “Zulip lets us have focused conversations at scale.”
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>
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> — [Rust compiler team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/compiler) co-lead [Felix
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> Klock](https://github.com/pnkfelix)
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## The Language team moves from Discord to Zulip: “It’s better in all the ways I care about”
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Let’s take a closer look at the story of the Rust Language team, which works on
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designing and helping to implement new language features. The team started out
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by using Gitter, but moved to Discord in 2018 in search of a more stable
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solution.
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Some community members advocated for trying out Zulip, but the team leadership
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was reluctant to make another change. “Everyone in our community who was
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familiar with Zulip seemed thrilled with it,” says [Language
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team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang) co-lead [Josh
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Triplett](https://joshtriplett.org/), “but moving our team seemed like too much
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of a pain.”
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Eventually, Josh had to sign up for Zulip in order to get in touch with another
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Rust team. “After a day of using Zulip, I became an advocate myself,” he says.
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“Zulip is wildly simpler than most other tools I’ve worked with.” The team made
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the move in November 2019 and has never looked back.
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“I’m personally ecstatically happy with Zulip,” says Josh, who also uses the
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Zulip instances for the [Bytecode Alliance](https://bytecodealliance.org/),
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[Rust for Linux](https://github.com/Rust-for-Linux), and
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[http-rs](https://github.com/http-rs/tide) Zulip communities. “It’s better in
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all the ways I care about and a joy to use.”
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> “Zulip is wildly simpler than most other tools I’ve worked with.”
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>
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> — [Rust Language team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang) co-lead
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> [Josh Triplett](https://joshtriplett.org/)
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## Zulip enables organized, searchable conversations
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Zulip’s threading model provides a two-layer organizational hierarchy. It offers
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the advantages of a forum or a mailing list, reimagined in the context of a
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modern chat tool.
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In contrast with other chat tools, Zulip makes it pleasant to have **multiple
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conversations** going on at once, with each conversation being easy to follow.
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“Slack and Discord both suffer when trying to collaborate with others at scale —
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you end up with conversations happening across each other,” says [David
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Wood](https://davidtw.co/), member of the [Rust compiler
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team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/compiler). “In Zulip, I can
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instantly see the context for each message.”
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Afterwards, Zulip’s thread-based organization creates a **clear record** of
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past discussions, documenting the decision-making process. “Zulip creates a
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transparent record of what we do,” says Josh. It’s **easy to link** to Zulip
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threads from other tools in order to provide background context. “We link to
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Zulip threads all the time on GitHub, Twitter, email, Discourse, and from other
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Zulip messages,” [Josh Triplett](https://joshtriplett.org/) says.
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> “Slack and Discord feel opaque. Zulip feels like an open room.”
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>
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> — [Rust Language team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang) co-lead
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> [Josh Triplett](https://joshtriplett.org/)
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Because information on Zulip is **well-organized**, one can easily find and
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review earlier conversations, even if months have passed. The organization’s
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**rich history** continues to provide value indefinitely. “I can find and
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re-read old conversations,” says [Rust Language
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team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang) co-lead [Niko
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Matsakis](https://github.com/nikomatsakis). “If I send someone a link to a
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discussion, they can jump right in; this would be impossible in other chat tools
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I’ve used.”
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Unlike other chat tools, a discussion on Zulip can even be revived after weeks
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or months have passed if new information or ideas come to light, with no loss of
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**surrounding context**.
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Catching up works great, whether you were away for hours, days, or even weeks.
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“When I come back after a break, I don’t feel overwhelmed: I can skim topics
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looking for the ones that seem important, and scroll briefly through the rest,”
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says [Rust Language team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang)
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co-lead [Niko Matsakis](https://github.com/nikomatsakis).
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> “When I come back after a break, I don’t feel overwhelmed.”
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>
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> — [Rust Language team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang)
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> co-lead [Niko Matsakis](https://github.com/nikomatsakis)
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## Zulip makes the Rust community more agile
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In addition to being well-organized, Zulip interactions are
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**conversational**, enabling **faster decision-making**. GitHub issues about
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controversial Rust language decisions can devolve into incomprehensible comment
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threads with [several](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/57640)
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[hundred](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/34511)
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[messages](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/28237). “Some decisions
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that were blocked for months on GitHub were resolved within 24 hours by starting
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the right conversation on Zulip,” says [Rust Language
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team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang) co-lead [Josh
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Triplett](https://joshtriplett.org/).
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> “Some decisions that were blocked for months on GitHub were resolved within 24
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> hours on Zulip.”
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>
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> — [Rust Language team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang) co-lead
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> [Josh Triplett](https://joshtriplett.org/)
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With the features and feel of a **modern chat tool**, Zulip makes it easy to
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have quick, light-weight, friendly conversations to get work done. “Zulip
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strikes just the right balance between ephemeral and permanent,” [Josh
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Triplett](https://joshtriplett.org/) says. The [mobile
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applications](/apps/) make it easy to participate wherever you
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are. “The Android app is extremely functional,” says Josh. “It’s easy to set
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notification preferences, and the default level of notifications is just right.”
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Adopting Zulip has been transformational for how the Rust community makes
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progress. “Rust development would not be moving at the pace that it has been
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without Zulip,” says [Rust Language
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team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang) co-lead [Josh
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Triplett](https://joshtriplett.org/). “Without Zulip, the Rust community would
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be more stuck, more slow-moving, less agile, and a little less human.”
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> “Rust development would not be moving at the pace that it has been without
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> Zulip.”
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>
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> — [Rust Language team](https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang) co-lead
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> [Josh Triplett](https://joshtriplett.org/)
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---
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Check out our guide on using Zulip for [open source](/for/open-source), and
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learn how Zulip [helps communities scale](/for/communities)!
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Alya Abbott
Tim Abbott