# New editions of the "the book"

![Minimum Rust version: 1.18](https://img.shields.io/badge/Minimum%20Rust%20Version-1.18-red.svg) for drafts of the second edition

![Minimum Rust version: 1.26](https://img.shields.io/badge/Minimum%20Rust%20Version-1.26-brightgreen.svg) for the final version of the second edition

![Minimum Rust version: 1.28](https://img.shields.io/badge/Minimum%20Rust%20Version-1.28-red.svg) for drafts of the 2018 edition

We've distributed a copy of "The Rust Programming Language," affectionately
nicknamed "the book", with every version of Rust since Rust 1.0.

However, because it was written before Rust 1.0, it started showing its age.
Many parts of the book are vague, because it was written before the true
details were nailed down for the 1.0 release. It didn't do a fantastic job of
teaching lifetimes.

Starting with Rust 1.18, we shipped drafts of a second edition of the book.
The final version was shipped with Rust 1.26. The new edition is a complete
re-write from the ground up, using the last two years of knowledge we’ve
gained from teaching people Rust. You’ll find brand-new explanations for a
lot of Rust’s core concepts, new projects to build, and all kinds of other
good stuff. Please [check it
out](https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/second-edition/index.html) and let us
know what you think!

You can also purchase [a dead-tree version from No Starch
Press](https://nostarch.com/Rust). Now that the print version has shipped,
the second edition is frozen.

The names are a bit confusing though, because the "second edition" of the
book is the first printed edition of the book. As such, we decided that newer
editions of the book will correspond with newer editions of Rust itself, and
so starting with 1.28, we've been shipping drafts of the next version, [the
2018 Edition](https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/2018-edition/index.html). It's
still pretty close to the second edition, but contains information about
newer features since the book's content was frozen. We'll be continuing to
update this edition until we decide to print a second edition in paper.