If you're new to Rust, you have effectively no reason to take time out to learn about the std::any::Any type. I wouldn't say it's something to "avoid"; this is unlike unsafe, where I would advise a new programmer to actively avoid it (unless they have a C background, maybe). It's just something you don't really need, and dyn traits in Rust are still relatively verbose and restrictive enough that it naturally steers you toward more idiomatic, non-dynamic code (which isn't to say that dyn traits are useless, they have their place, but it's a niche IMO).