No, not at all. I didn't have the foggiest idea what a linear/affine type was when I started learning Rust, and it didn't hinder me at all.

(Rust doesn't even have linear types, btw)

Rust doesn't have linear types? You'll have to elaborate on that because Jim Blandy at least would say you are wrong.

Rust has affine types, not linear types.

To clarify, with affine types you can guarantee that a value is used at most once, while linear types enforce that a value is used exactly once. Rust has the must-use directive that can be used to approximate linear types but it has severe limitations.