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Resources

Need Rust learning materials? This curated list provides official documentation, books, tools, and community resources for all skill levels.

Official Documentation

The Rust Programming Language (The Book)

URL: https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/

Description: Comprehensive official tutorial covering Rust from basics to advanced topics.

Best for: Systematic learning, beginners to intermediate

Coverage: Ownership, types, error handling, concurrency, advanced features

Rust by Example

URL: https://doc.rust-lang.org/rust-by-example/

Description: Learn Rust through runnable examples.

Best for: Hands-on learners, quick concept lookup

Coverage: All major language features with executable code

The Rustonomicon

URL: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nomicon/

Description: The dark arts of unsafe Rust.

Best for: Advanced users working with unsafe code

Coverage: Unsafe Rust, FFI, memory layout, advanced patterns

Standard Library Documentation

URL: https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/

Description: Complete API reference for standard library.

Best for: Looking up standard library functions and types

Features: Search, examples, source code links

The Cargo Book

URL: https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/

Description: Complete guide to Rust’s package manager.

Best for: Understanding cargo, dependencies, workspaces

Coverage: Project management, building, testing, publishing

Async Rust Book

URL: https://rust-lang.github.io/async-book/

Description: Official guide to asynchronous programming.

Best for: Learning async/await, futures, async patterns

Coverage: Async fundamentals, executors, streams, pinning

Books and Courses

Programming Rust (O’Reilly)

Authors: Jim Blandy, Jason Orendorff, Leonora F.S. Tindall

Description: Comprehensive Rust book for experienced programmers.

Best for: Systems programmers, experienced developers

Coverage: Deep dive into ownership, concurrency, advanced patterns

Rust for Rustaceans

Author: Jon Gjengset

Description: Idiomatic Rust for experienced Rustaceans.

Best for: Intermediate to advanced Rust developers

Coverage: Advanced patterns, performance, production practices

Zero To Production In Rust

Author: Luca Palmieri

Description: Backend development with Rust.

Best for: Web developers, API development

Coverage: REST APIs, databases, testing, deployment

Comprehensive Rust (Google)

URL: https://google.github.io/comprehensive-rust/

Description: Google’s Rust course.

Best for: Structured learning with exercises

Coverage: Fundamentals, Android, concurrency, async

Rust Cookbook

URL: https://rust-lang-nursery.github.io/rust-cookbook/

Description: Collection of simple recipes for common tasks.

Best for: Quick solutions to common problems

Domain-Specific Resources

Embedded Rust Book

URL: https://rust-embedded.github.io/book/

Description: Rust for embedded systems.

Best for: Embedded developers, IoT, no_std environments

Coverage: HAL, bare metal, debugging, real-time systems

The WebAssembly Book

URL: https://rustwasm.github.io/docs/book/

Description: Rust and WebAssembly.

Best for: WASM development, browser applications

Coverage: wasm-bindgen, wasm-pack, performance optimization

Command Line Apps in Rust

URL: https://rust-cli.github.io/book/

Description: Building CLI tools with Rust.

Best for: CLI developers

Coverage: Argument parsing, configuration, error handling

The Little Book of Rust Macros

URL: https://veykril.github.io/tlborm/

Description: Comprehensive macro guide.

Best for: Understanding and writing macros

Coverage: Declarative and procedural macros, patterns

Tools and Ecosystem

rustup

URL: https://rust-lang.github.io/rustup/

Description: Rust toolchain installer and version manager.

Commands:

rustup update              # Update Rust
rustup default stable      # Set default toolchain
rustup component add clippy  # Add component

Cargo

Description: Rust’s package manager and build tool.

Essential commands:

cargo new my_project       # Create project
cargo build               # Build
cargo run                 # Build and run
cargo test                # Run tests
cargo doc --open          # Build and view docs

rustfmt

URL: https://github.com/rust-lang/rustfmt

Description: Automatic code formatter.

Usage:

cargo fmt                 # Format entire project
rustfmt src/main.rs       # Format specific file

Configuration: .rustfmt.toml in project root

Clippy

URL: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust-clippy

Description: Linter catching common mistakes and suggesting improvements.

Usage:

cargo clippy              # Run linter
cargo clippy --fix        # Apply automatic fixes

rust-analyzer

URL: https://rust-analyzer.github.io/

Description: Language Server Protocol implementation for Rust.

Features: Autocomplete, go-to-definition, type hints, error checking

Install: Via editor extension (VS Code, IntelliJ, Vim, Emacs)

cargo-edit

URL: https://github.com/killercup/cargo-edit

Description: Extends cargo with dependency management commands.

Install:

cargo install cargo-edit

Usage:

cargo add serde           # Add dependency
cargo rm serde            # Remove dependency
cargo upgrade             # Upgrade dependencies

cargo-watch

URL: https://github.com/watchexec/cargo-watch

Description: Watches files and runs cargo commands on changes.

Install:

cargo install cargo-watch

Usage:

cargo watch -x run        # Run on file changes
cargo watch -x test       # Test on changes

cargo-expand

URL: https://github.com/dtolnay/cargo-expand

Description: Shows macro expansion.

Usage:

cargo expand              # Expand all macros

Criterion

URL: https://github.com/bheisler/criterion.rs

Description: Statistics-driven benchmarking library.

Best for: Performance measurement

Popular Crates

Web Development

  • actix-web: Fast, pragmatic web framework
  • axum: Ergonomic web framework built on Tokio
  • rocket: Web framework with focus on developer experience
  • warp: Composable web framework

Async Runtime

  • tokio: Most popular async runtime
  • async-std: Async version of standard library

Serialization

  • serde: Serialization/deserialization framework
  • serde_json: JSON support for serde
  • bincode: Binary encoding for serde

Database

  • sqlx: Async, pure-Rust SQL toolkit
  • diesel: Safe, extensible ORM
  • sea-orm: Async ORM
  • rusqlite: SQLite bindings

CLI

  • clap: Command-line argument parser
  • structopt: Parse CLI args to structs (deprecated, use clap v3+)

Error Handling

  • thiserror: Derive Error for custom errors
  • anyhow: Flexible error handling for applications

Testing

  • proptest: Property-based testing
  • mockall: Mock object library

HTTP Client

  • reqwest: HTTP client
  • hyper: Low-level HTTP implementation

Community Resources

Official Forums

Rust Users Forum: https://users.rust-lang.org/

  • Questions and discussions
  • Friendly, helpful community
  • Great for beginners

Discord

Rust Discord: https://discord.com/invite/rust-lang

  • Real-time chat
  • Channels for various topics
  • Community learning

Reddit

r/rust: https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/

  • News, discussions, showcases
  • Weekly “What Are You Working On?”
  • Learning resources shared

This Week in Rust

URL: https://this-week-in-rust.org/

  • Weekly newsletter
  • Curated news, articles, crates
  • Job listings, events

Rust Blog

URL: https://blog.rust-lang.org/

  • Official announcements
  • Release notes
  • RFC discussions

crates.io

URL: https://crates.io/

  • Official package registry
  • Browse popular crates
  • Documentation links to docs.rs

docs.rs

URL: https://docs.rs/

  • Automatic documentation hosting
  • All published crates documented
  • Multiple versions available

Learning Paths

Path 1: Systems Programming

  1. Start: The Rust Book (chapters 1-10)
  2. Practice: Rust by Example
  3. Deep dive: Programming Rust book
  4. Advanced: The Rustonomicon
  5. Projects: File systems, parsers, compression tools

Path 2: Web Development

  1. Start: The Rust Book (fundamentals)
  2. Framework: Actix-web or Axum tutorial
  3. Database: SQLx or Diesel guide
  4. Async: Async Rust Book
  5. Production: Zero To Production In Rust
  6. Projects: REST APIs, microservices

Path 3: WebAssembly

  1. Start: The Rust Book (chapters 1-15)
  2. WASM: Rust and WebAssembly Book
  3. Tooling: wasm-pack tutorial
  4. Practice: Build browser apps
  5. Projects: Games, visualizations, compute-heavy web apps

Path 4: Embedded Systems

  1. Start: The Rust Book (fundamentals)
  2. Embedded: Embedded Rust Book
  3. HAL: Platform-specific HAL documentation
  4. Practice: Discovery book (microcontrollers)
  5. Projects: IoT devices, robotics

Path 5: CLI Tools

  1. Start: The Rust Book (chapters 1-12)
  2. CLI: Command Line Apps in Rust
  3. Libraries: clap, structopt documentation
  4. Distribution: Packaging and cross-compilation
  5. Projects: Development tools, utilities

Video Resources

YouTube Channels

  • Jon Gjengset: Deep-dives, live coding, advanced topics
  • Let’s Get Rusty: Tutorials, news, quick tips
  • Ryan Levick: Microsoft engineer, beginner-friendly
  • No Boilerplate: Fast-paced Rust advocacy

Online Courses

  • Rust Programming Course (Udemy): Comprehensive beginner course
  • Ultimate Rust Crash Course (Udemy): Fast-paced introduction
  • Rustlings: Interactive exercises (GitHub: rust-lang/rustlings)

Practice Platforms

Exercism

URL: https://exercism.org/tracks/rust

  • Mentored code practice
  • 100+ exercises
  • Community feedback

Rustlings

URL: https://github.com/rust-lang/rustlings

  • Small exercises to learn Rust
  • Install and run locally
  • Gradual difficulty increase

Advent of Code

URL: https://adventofcode.com/

  • Daily programming puzzles
  • Great for practicing Rust
  • Active Rust community participation

Staying Updated

  1. This Week in Rust: Weekly newsletter
  2. Rust Blog: Official announcements
  3. r/rust: Daily discussions
  4. Rust Discord: Real-time community
  5. Twitter: Follow @rustlang, Rust developers
  6. RFCs: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs

Getting Help

When Stuck

  1. Search: Rust Users Forum, Stack Overflow
  2. Ask: Rust Users Forum (detailed questions)
  3. Chat: Discord (quick questions)
  4. Documentation: docs.rs, The Book
  5. Examples: Rust by Example, crate examples

How to Ask Good Questions

  • Provide minimal reproducible example
  • Show what you tried
  • Include error messages
  • Specify Rust version (rustc --version)
  • Be specific about goal

Contributing to Rust

Ways to Contribute

  • Documentation: Improve docs, write examples
  • Rust itself: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust
  • Crates: Contribute to popular crates
  • Teaching: Answer questions, write tutorials
  • RFCs: Participate in language design

Related Resources

Use these resources to accelerate your Rust journey!

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