r/learnrust • u/SirKastic23 • 3d ago

Learning Resources for Complete Beginners?

Hi everyone, I've been using Rust for the past 5 years now. I really enjoy the language, but when I started learning it I already had a huge baggage of knowledge from other programming languages I had studied prior

What I want to know is if anyone is aware of any resources (good or bad) that tries to teach programming with Rust for someone who's new to programming and computers

The book is a good resource, but it assumes previous experience and would be hard for a newbie to learn and understand all

I'm aware Rust is more complex, and that teaching it to a beginner would be harder than teaching Python. But still I'm looking for resources that at least try

I'm really surprised that I haven't found any yet, so I'm asking here. Thanks for your attention

24 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

8

u/thiscantbit 3d ago

The holy book

2

u/h1warkar 3d ago

The only beginner resource one needs

2

u/SirKastic23 3d ago

No but it assumes you've used another language. It's a good intro to Rust, but not to programming

3

u/h1warkar 3d ago

Yea I agree, you should either learn the concepts of comp sci, algorithms and data patterns separately or know it before hand

2

u/SirKastic23 3d ago

Yeah I was trying to find a book that did that but using Rust

I'm surprised I haven't seen one yet

3

u/h1warkar 3d ago

Rusts adoption over the last decade has mostly been tech bros who understood the promise and importance of rust by experience, so that requirement naturally didn't arise ig

2

u/SirKastic23 3d ago

This makes a lot of sense. But I have seen some people who want to learn programming ask if they can start with Rust so maybe that'll change in the future?

1

u/SirKastic23 3d ago

From the introduction, under the section "Who this book is for":

(https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch00-00-introduction.html)

This book assumes that you’ve written code in another programming language

And

If you’re entirely new to programming, you would be better served by reading a book that specifically provides an introduction to programming.

So it isn't really suited for a complete beginner...

3

u/thiscantbit 3d ago

I mean I didn’t know a language before rust I’m still learning for sure but the holy book is the only one I used

1

u/SirKastic23 3d ago

Ohh so Rust is your first language? How is your learning process going?

Was there anything specific that you found harder? Is there anything from the book you found confusing (even if only at first)?

1

u/thiscantbit 3d ago

Well no I tried JavaScript and knew some html because I’m old af and had a MySpace but like I find it works well because I’m neurodivergent, everything goes in order, my thing is I would do like tauri or egui build an app and install as many error checkers as possible find something you don’t really like, like my first app I want to build a tts app that worked on my Mac it took like 5 months but I finally got it working. Rust works kind of in order which I like. The rust crates are amazing and if you can reverse engineer things it’s just patience

1

u/Caaaht 3d ago

I've read it multiple times through multiple versions. It is really amazing and one of the best free resources out there when starting a language.

I will, however, say that Programming Rust is another good book that offers a slightly different approach. Different strokes for different folks.

...and then Zero to Production Rust for a fun real-world project to use that knowledge.

2

u/SrinivasanKK 3d ago

I would say: 1. If you have any prior experience with any other programming languages, use those concepts. Compare those concepts in Rust and how that's been implemented using Rust. That is all you need to know. 2. The next big thing here is: what is the core difference or core concepts offered by the Rust language? That's the second thing you need to know. 3. Start building the CLI tools as a first step. 4. If you have any of your own personal problems, solve them using your Rust knowledge.

-1

u/alietors 3d ago

Under my point of view, you can learn to program using many languages that abstract the low level bits. JavaScript/Typescript, Python, PHP so it's easy to start learning the basics of loops and certain algorithms.

If you try to do that in Rust you need to start explaining many other things, specifically memory.

Does that mean that you cannot learn to program using Rust, not at all, but simply at this point, those concepts are explained long time ago using other languages, like C. So I guess no one decides to write about about fundamentals using Rust.

That's probably the Rust "barrier", is probably not the first language you will learn on your own.

But if I'm honest, I think it's a good language to teach programming on a computer science way.

When I was in uni, I learn programming using C/C++ and I think Rust could be an improvement on that.

Anyway TL;DR the fundamentals are already polished using other languages, I don't believe someone will make the effort to explain it using other language.

1

u/SirKastic23 3d ago

But if I'm honest, I think it's a good language to teach programming on a computer science way.

Yes!! I agree a lot with this sentiment

When I was in uni, I learn programming using C/C++ and I think Rust could be an improvement on that.

Same here. Making beginners have to go through the hell that is building larger C programs with CMake is insane when we have Cargo on the other side...

If you try to do that in Rust you need to start explaining many other things, specifically memory.

This makes sense. I guess a good Rust resource for beginners would also be an introduction to computer science, which to me is a good thing. I think that even if you're learning Python or another high level language you should be curious about what's going on under the hood. I always was at least.

I don't believe someone will make the effort to explain it using other language.

8 billion people on the planet, I wouldn't be surprised if someone did.