Getting started with Rust

January 27, 2024

• download - https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install
• book - https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/title-page.html
• Rust by examples - https://doc.rust-lang.org/rust-by-example/index.html
• cargo book - https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/index.html
• VSCode integration - https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/rust (use rust-analyzer)
• https://github.com/japaric/trust - test Rust crate on different architectures
• https://github.com/mehcode/config-rs/tree/master - layered config
• https://github.com/rust-unofficial/awesome-rust
• starter project examples
  • https://github.com/shadowmint/rust-starter/tree/master

Syntax:

• main function is special, first code that runs in every rust executable
• curly braces for functions
• semi-colons for expressions
• rustfmt included as part of the installation
• ! used for macros

Compilation:

• uses rustc
  • compiler for the Rust programming language, provided by the project itself, which takes your source code and produces binary code, either as a library or executable
  • we only ever pass rustc the crate root, not every file we wish to compile

Packages and crates:

• a crate is a compilation unit in Rust (synonymous with packages from other languages)
  • it is a library or executable program
  • can contain modules, which may be defined in other files
  • crates are shipped with Cargo, package management tool
  • implicit root module, from which compilation starts
  • modules allow you to partition your code within the crate itself
• binary crates
  • programs that can be compiled to executables and run, including a main function
• library crates
  • programs that don't compile to executablesm, don't define a main function, define functionality intended to be run by multiple projects
• a package is a bundle of one or more crates
  • contains a Cargo.toml file that describes how to build those crates
  • manifest file, which contains all the metadata needed to compile package
• publishing crates to crates.io - https://crates.io/

Creating a new project:

• cargo new my-project
• crate root -> module -> submodule
• crate root (src/lib.rs for library crate, src/main.rs for binary crate)
• module
• submodule
• modules declared with mod statements
• privacy rules allow code references anywhere in crate
• code within a module is private from parent by default, use pub before decorations
• https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch07-02-defining-modules-to-control-scope-and-privacy.html

Commands:

cargo new hello-world --bin
cargo new my-lib --lib  // different directory structure with test case to run
cargo test -- --nocapture
cargo build  // target/debug
cargo run
cargo build --release  // target/release
cargo update  // regenerates Cargo.lock
cargo doc --open

Scope:

• prelude is brought into scope always - https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/prelude/index.html

Mutability:

let apples = 5; // immutable
let mut bananas = 5; // mutable

Configuration:

 
// to prevent SSL errors
 
// C:\Users\lmiloszewski\.cargo\config.toml
[http]
check-revoke = false