Rustup

Rustup is the official toolchain installer for the Rust programming language. More accurately, it should be called a toolchain multiplexer (because it installs and manages multiple toolchains). Once installed, it is a fully functional, versatile, and powerful manager for your Rust development environment.

Rust is a programming language that is empowering developers, beginners in low-level programming, and code enthusiasts to learn and build efficient, sustainable programs. The developer offers solid documentation and support, and communicates extremely efficiently about changes, updates, and everything that happens in the community.

By installing rustup, you get access to an entire development ecosystem. All the necessary components for you to start writing in Rust are already set in place. rustup contains rustc (the compiler that will compile/turn your code into a binary executable), cargo (the package manager that will download and install all the necessary packages and their dependencies), and rustup (your personal management tool for installing, updating, and switching between versions and releases).

Putting rustup in place can be done using the dedicated installers, by installing individual components, or using terminal commands. If you want to manually install Rust and its environment modules, check its individual components, or opt for a particular version (stable/beta/nightly), you can check this resource.

However, if you go for the rustup installation, your system will be scanned and all the missing components (the Visual C++ prerequisites) will be added (alongside, all the necessary components for Rust development). After installing rustup, you have to check the destination folder, to make sure the installation was successful. All the tools associated with it should be added in the ~/.cargo/bin directory.

Although the program will try to modify the path during the installation process, it might interfere with your pre-existing setup and your system configuration. This is the reason why, after the installation takes effect, you have to restart the console and your PC, and add the toolchain's and the components' directory to your environment variable. For an exact walkthrough through the whole process, check this guide.

Installing rustup is mandatory for anyone who wants to understand the ins and outs of the Rust programming language and how its development  components works. rustup will give you access to a plethora of useful instruments such as: the package manager, the building tools, the sharp compiler for handling errors like a pro, and many others.