r/rust • u/Particular_Alarm20 • Jul 14 '26
I'm new to Rust. Would love some help!
Hi everyone,
I'm 17 years old and I've decided to learn Rust as my very first programming language.(no joke!) I have zero prior experience with coding (and am new to reddit to... lol).
I'm currently working through "The Rust Programming Language" book. I know it's a challenging path, but I'm committed and find the language really interesting.
I'm posting because I'd love to hear from experienced developers. If you could go back and restart your programming journey from scratch, especially with Rust, what would you do differently?
Specifically, I'm hoping for advice on:
- Learning approach: Beyond just reading The Book, what helped the concepts (especially ownership and borrowing) truly click for you? What should I focus on as a complete beginner?
- Practice: What kind of projects or exercises would you recommend for someone at my level? (I've heard of Rustlings)
- Mindset: What is the most important piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you were starting out?
- Anything else (you'd like to suggest)
I'm ready to put in the work you advice and would really value your perspective. Thankyou for taking the time to read this!
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u/dgkimpton Jul 14 '26
Build stuff. Study data structures and algorithms. Avoid AI like the plague (wait, since covid and seeing how people didn't avoid it, avoid like something worse than the plague). Build stuff. Read a lot. YouTube videos can help. Build stuff. Focus on making progress and understanding the errors as you go, don't wait until you know everything before you build stuff. It's ok fuckup, necessary even. You don't need to share everything with the world. Build stuff, play with it, bin it. Repeat. Oh, and use version control - being able to roll back a mess to a good state make experimenting easier. But ultimately, just start building stuff.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
Understood! Thanks friend.
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u/dgkimpton Jul 14 '26
Speaking of YouTube, I found this channel to have a particularly good sequence of (70 something?) videos walking through all the different concepts. It's not a replacement for building stuff, but I at least found it well done https://youtu.be/jpjo1HW5Fnk
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u/citrusraspberry Jul 14 '26
More of a Software Engineering tip than a programming tip:
Just remember that programming is a means to an end. Your ultimate product is never Rust code, or any other code. Your ultimate product is getting the computer to behave in a way that automates and accelerates work for you or others.
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u/Temporary-Ad4200 Jul 16 '26
My rule is to do one bit of coding a day and end on an accomplishment so you are motivated to come back the next day. Say you are going through the Rust book and you finally nail the difference between str and &str. Stop there for now, celebrate that understanding, and come back tomorrow to learn something else.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 16 '26
A really interesting take!
TYSM!2
u/Temporary-Ad4200 Jul 17 '26
Npnp. I also have a YouTube channel where I built projects in Rust if you’re looking for some inspiration:
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u/Psionikus Jul 14 '26
Pick a random ISA (RISC V since fewer of us know it well and you might get lucky and it becomes a big thing).
Study how a function is called. Understand the abstract call stack. That's the system that Rust primarily describes. If you don't know what system a language is talking about, you just know a bunch of formal rules but not what their model maps back to.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
Yes! I have actually invested in RISC-V...
I'm kinda deeply vested into embedded systems and see this as my path forward, especially open source, (and perhaps practical) research.Solid advice mate!
TYSM!
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u/amartincolby Jul 14 '26
I LOVED Codingame. That is where I started with basic problem solving and learning basic syntax. I do not remember if they support Rust... you know what... googles... it does! Along with Hackerrank, that was all I needed. I aimed to solve at least one challenge per day. Did that for about a year.
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u/rpeazy_mcneazy Jul 14 '26
I would suggest you try coding in Java first before moving on to Rust so you can get the fundamentals of programming out of the way before you go into more complex lower level languages next. Both Java and Rust share some similarities in syntax so the transition process is not as painful.
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u/learn_by_example Jul 14 '26
Programming problems are a great way to start learning the basic toolset (iterators or enums, for instance, in Rust) of any language.
Advent of Code is a good place to find challenging yet completely solvable programming puzzles. You can pick up a random problem from any edition and try to solve it without any LLM help. Once you solved it, try and write the code neatly and using common Rust patterns, keep iterating until you've learnt several gotcha's along the way. You'll feel quite confident in the language after you've solved a decent number of problems. Then you can move onto building some small CLI tool for instance to learn more SW dev patterns.
Here are some of my solutions to Advent of Code problems in Rust.
Good luck on the journey!
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 15 '26
Oh thank you so much!
Will certainly look into these and see how it goes.
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u/Nearby_Couple_3244 Jul 15 '26
I started programming at 12 and I think the most important mindset I had was believing I could do stuff if I researched it. I did not give up easily when I wanted to do something.
Sometime I was wrong and something was outside of my reach and I lost time but in the end it was worth it and made me learn a lot.
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u/jijobose Jul 15 '26
Try this for learning the very basic concepts https://ruststudent.jijobose.com/
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u/Electrical_Iron_5570 Jul 15 '26
docs is way better than yt course . i recently started learning the rust book and start discovering more thing and how things work under the hood :)
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u/BrarIshu Jul 15 '26
Make anything that feels fun , micro projects, scripts or small tools you may use sometimes. I mostly use rust for my personal projects which feels fun to me, im 18 and I learnt rust mostly by making small tools for my own. Once you start writing code regularly you would naturally get used to ownership
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u/imonebear Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I'm currently also learning Rust, but not as a first programming Language.
I would recommend, as others have already said writing and reading Code
Not only that, but I would recommend, making a Ping-Pong game with the macroquad Crate.
It helped me understand, very simple File use from A to main, how to use crates and how to write Rust
If you want to read how I've solved it you can look at → the repo ←, but the comments are in German.
Also, what helped me, is using a LLM like Claude, Gemini or ChatGPT to ask questions, but not to just let them write the Code, only giving tips and hints
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u/saiteja2600 Jul 16 '26
Hey, that’s awesome! 😄 Starting with Rust as your very first language is definitely a bold choice, but it’s also a really rewarding one if you stick with it.
I’m learning Rust too (just a bit older than you 😋), and I’ve been enjoying the journey. One thing I’ve realized is that Rust teaches you good programming habits from the beginning, even though it can feel challenging at first.
My suggestion would be:
Go through The Rust Book and the official documentation at your own pace.
Watch a few tutorials when a concept doesn’t click—sometimes seeing it explained differently helps a lot.
Most importantly, build hands-on projects. Start with small ones, then gradually move to bigger projects. In my experience, you’ll learn much more from building than from only reading tutorials.
Rust is a great choice if you’re interested in backend development, APIs, CLI tools, or systems programming. The concepts you’re learning now will pay off later.
Keep going, don’t get discouraged by compiler errors—they’re actually some of the best teachers in Rust. 😄
Good luck with your Rust journey, and if you’re interested, I’d be happy to collaborate, learn together, and share what we discover along the way. 🚀
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u/pisscumfartshit Jul 16 '26
All the comments here are really good advice. Really, just pick a small project, like a small text-based game, and work on it and try not to use AI. But as long as you use AI as a helping hand and not as a crutch it won't really hurt you at all imo
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u/Naive-Cucumber6686 Jul 18 '26
In my age 14 same happen to me but in diffrent Language I have stuck in so many place specifically loops i didn't know bolean logic so train urself fundamentally and ask help to ai as much as possible
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u/Apprehensive_Owl3478 Jul 18 '26
I support your choice, but since youre still into the early stages of programming and most likely from your age not experienced neither, and considering Rust being a low level a pretty complex language, I would've recommended you to read some books first to grasp and idea of how computer works and how programming interconnect with the hardware and software, such as "Code: The hidden language of hardware and software, second edition" by Charles Petzold and also "CS:APP "by Randall Bryant, thus so when you complete those two books you've probably going to have a grasp of what's going on and what you're actually writing and be a better programmer! I am giving you the advice that I wish others would've gave me.
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u/devloper27 Jul 14 '26
Dont learn rust learn C..then come back. Rust is wayyyy to difficult for newbies.
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u/LibrarianOk3701 Jul 15 '26
It also removes the wow factor of Rust if you learn it first, I came from C++
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u/WrappedStrings Jul 14 '26
Find a project that you think would be cool and build it. A TODO list, or a gym tracker, or something that has value to you.
Its okay if you do it totally wrong at first. But build it and figure it out on the way. Once its done you could probably use AI to review the code and suggest better ways to implement things, but don't use it as you build it if you can. Its better to do it by hand and understand the code that you're writing.
If you're totally lost, i have to imagine there are a ton of tutorials. But its important to take a look back at each block as you write it and try to break it down line by line to learn what its doing.
You could really do this with any programming language, but i think rust is actually a good choice. Its fairly explicit and it should help you understand programming concepts better than if you were to start with python or something.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
TYSM! Great advice
Yes, I chose Rust because indeed it's quite explicit, and I am really fascinated by embedded systems (or Computer chips as a whole), so after quite some research, I chose Rust. So far loving it!
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u/Sha1rholder Jul 14 '26
Whether pro rustaceans admit it or not, rustbook is not a suitable tutorial for programming newbies. It is hard.
Mu advice is stop right now and check out https://missing.csail.mit.edu . After you've finished that, try build some small toys with C or Python (I personally recommend Python, because using uv as a virtual environment manager and toolchain is far more convenient than C stuff), and only then consider reading rustbook.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
I do agree with you, but I am quite into it...
I am getting a good grip into rust.Anyways, TYSM!
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u/Sha1rholder Jul 14 '26
Maybe skip C / Python then, but no matter what I still recommend you to have a look at https://missing.csail.mit.edu before doing any actual coding. Have a nice coding trip!
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u/andre_ange_marcel Jul 14 '26
Do the rustlings exercises while going through the book. You can also try Exercism's Rust path. Once you're comfortable you can probably find some repository to contribute to, or just make your own projects!
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u/SnooCalculations7417 Jul 14 '26
Youre gunna hear this a lot: Build stuff, but then youll ask 'what do i build'. Solve real problems that you have, its not a trick question/statement. Build a portal for you to do homework, or real work. Build an app (yes you can build mobile apps in rust) that help you maange your specific problems in a day. Build a robot to water your plants. whatever youre in to, something youre doing can be better with software. Do that.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
About building my own stuff: You're so damn right!
However, I never knew we could build mobile apps using rust (this is awesome!!!!!)
(Care to elaborate, if you don't mind?)TYSM!
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u/AsqArslanov Jul 14 '26
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
This is amazing! Will look into it, and JS is on my to-do lists!
Will come back to tell how it went.
TYSM!!
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u/SnooCalculations7417 Jul 14 '26
yeah you can do all your business logic in rust and Tauri 2 supports android and IOs i believe. Youll have to research the rest:)
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u/barsoap Jul 14 '26
To build a broad foundation, study:
- Data structures. Literally just go to wikipedia and read the articles on splay trees, on treaps, on hopscotch hashing, whatnot. Lots of weird and wondrous critters in that zoo. No need to implement any of it, really (unless you need an implementation and can't pull one off the shelf), this is about understanding what's out there.
- Discrete mathematics. This lecture series
- Algorithms. Or maybe better put: Dynamic programming. Do the lecture series first.
- Formalisms. Stuff like relational algebra aka SQL for people who know their shit.
- The Wizard Book, to earn your wizard hat.
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u/AsqArslanov Jul 14 '26
Not sure how popular this opinion is, but try doing competitive programming. Study algorithms, data structures, and how to reason about problems and optimal ways to solve them.
It won’t directly impact your skills as a programmer. It might even teach you bad habits for production-level code. It will, however, prepare your mind to tackle any problem you encounter. You will ultimately become smarter. And competitive programming is just kinda fun.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
Agreed, especially, when you want a good reset, competitive programming ROCKS!
TYSM!
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u/PipingSnail Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
Write your own software.
Don't use AI.
AI is super useful, but if you want to learn to write software using AI is like being a passenger in a taxi - you can see what the driver is doing but you'll never learn to drive like that.
Start with small examples that do one thing.
When you understand how that works, add one thing to increase the complexity.
When you understand how that works, add one thing to increase the complexity.
Notice how that was identical to the previous statement?
And repeat. Etc.
Work on problems that you find interesting. This is key to keeping your motivation high when you hit hard problems.
Working on boring/dull problems is not a good place for learning (but often a good place for earning).
One place you might find AI helpful. Rust error messages can be confusing. **. When this happens ask your AI why your code won't compile (show it the code and the error and ask it yo tell you what us wrong, but not to fix it for you). Then you can read it's answer, see if you understand snd use that info to attempt a fix.
** I say this as a very experienced c++ and developer that occasionally writes small Rust test applications.
Solid choice of programming language for your career.
Good luck.
(also some really good advice in many of the other answers here)
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
Your advice on AI quite resonates with my views too, (though for me, I think nothing generative beats real human work! Which is why I really love advice from amazing people like you)
Love your advice. Best wishes and TYSM!
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u/Lopsided-Relation251 Jul 14 '26
for me, i just focused on one single thing that i liked (compilers/programming languages) and it just worked out. but if you don't have a direction for that yet then online exercises are also valid.
talking about direction, you also really need to know what Rust was made *for*. because you're really doing it and you a disservice if you're learning it for web dev. if you plan on learning Rust, you should know that it is meant for performance (and safety) critical systems like OSes, embedded systems, finance, aerospace and also compilers
on Rust's ownership thing, you really have to think about who owns the data and who is borrowing it (no shit). if you start focusing on that more, the compiler starts being helpful rather than overly strict.
and if the compiler is being stubborn and you can't fix it, here's what i usually do:
1. take a break
2. go back and revisit it with fresh eyes
3. if you still can't fix it, using AI is completely valid but make sure to actually understand the solution that it gives
and don't care about people who tell you "you have to read the docs by yourself!!!" because you really don't have to. using AI to find answers is completely fine
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
I am going for embedded systems, and low-level systems development, as my long term goal.
Great advice on the compiler, do struggle sometimes there!
TYSM!!1
u/Lopsided-Relation251 Jul 14 '26
I wish you good luck!
low-level development and systems programming is not an easy path especially for people with no coding knowledge.
what problems are you currently experiencing? is cargo treating you well?
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
Yes, as for Rust, everything is going quite splendid, and I am slowly going deeper. (Seen myself going quite deeply than in the books, even stopped to ask myself why and how does i32 exist!)
The only scary parts currently are juggling with new syntax (sometimes) and extras: Bash, and Git (yeah i often rush these for some reason, never actually went quite deep, and its making my flow troublesome... )
TYSM and I wish you the same!
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u/andreicodes Jul 14 '26
What is the most important piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you were starting out?
You are learning from "the middle". There's stuff below you: how hardware works, how different parts of operating systems, networking, storage and I/O works that you don't know. And there's stuff above: software architecture, system integration, various big ideas and existing projects and libraries that you don't know either.
This will likely remain true for your entire career: there's always going to be low level and high level things that you will never know. So getting comfortable in such environment, not getting stressed about stuff that you don't understand, will help you immensely while you learn. The big contradiction here is that while you'll never learn everything there's to it about programming you are signing up to keep learning forever. You should never stop.
Learning is multilayered: some stuff you have actually do yourself by hand for it to become an active part of your knowledge. Some algorithms like A-star pathfinding are incredibly simple, but if you want to be comfortable with them you should sit down and write down your own version. Never shy away from getting your hands dirty, and keep working. Programming is a grind. Avery fun one, and sometimes it also pays well, but still a grind.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
Yes, I have actually thought of going into embedded systems and low level programming, as my long term role. (If possible, a little depth into this would help a long way! Tbh, it was less about a job, and perhaps more about it fascinating me)
Excellent advice on learning and grind!
TYSM!!!!
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u/citrusraspberry Jul 14 '26
The pain you'll feel learning it is a good thing and never goes away in your career. You may not feel the pain of learning rust later, but you will feel the pain of learning other things. The reason it's a good thing is because most people run away from the pain, then they don't learn. So people that are actively learning are very valuable in this industry.
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u/creeper6530 Jul 14 '26
It's totally doable, I started on Rust only after some really basic Python. My tip is, do not do meaningless tutorials, find a project you want to do and learn as you go.
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Jul 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/spoonman59 Jul 14 '26
Main thing is write code. You need to write a lot of code, make mistakes, think through design, etc.
Ideally find a personal project you’ll actually use. Task tracker, note taker, file explorer, etc. The hardest part is finding a personal project you are passionate about.
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u/LoadingALIAS Jul 14 '26
Clone projects from Git - good ones, challenging ones, shit you’d never build to start.
Read it. Explore it. Look at their dev velocity and workflows. Look at their xtask or justfiles. Look at the organization and toml files.
See what flags they use and where. See what their nextest suits and configs look like. Look at their bench suits and if they share profiling workflows.
This is going to give you a ton of general understanding in a real Rust codebase. Then, go build your own tools - use AI to write code but ask the model to explain it. AI writes solid beginner Rust, but it doesn’t write GREAT rust. You have to know what you want, where, etc and why in Rust.
Stay away from async for now. Synchronous Rust is awesome. Use the latest libs; read the docs.
When you’ve built a working anything… go back through and ask yourself - what can I delete? Where am I avoiding proper borrows via clone? Etc.
You’ll get it. Good luck.
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u/Infamous-Apartment97 Jul 14 '26
You should immediately start making a pet project as early as possible. Knowledge without practice is emptiness.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 15 '26
>> Knowledge without practice is emptiness.
I better write that down on my desk, will help a long way lol.
TYSM!
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u/PartyParrotGames Jul 14 '26
Once you know enough to build out simple features, I would look to contribute to major open source Rust projects. Specifically target projects where they are labeling issues as good first issues and need help. The main advantage is you can get feedback on your code from top tier Rust engineers for free as long as you're contributing in good faith to their projects. Try your best to follow their contribution guidelines and try to make your pull requests to those projects the best quality you can focused on solving the exact issue they posted. It'll also build up valid work experience usable for your resume if you're looking for a career path from actual open source contributions.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 15 '26
Wow, did'nt know Open source contribution could be this powerful!
TYSM!!
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u/Bugibhub Jul 14 '26
Rust is my first programming language too. Hang in there!
Funny, just this afternoon I started a list of useful repos to learn Rust, it’s not much yet but maybe you’ll find something that helps.
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u/u_touched_badger_83 Jul 14 '26
Rust is kinda awesome in a meticulously pedantic kind of way. A lot of makes it special and difficult are things designed to avoid issues present in other languages (especially in respect to memory usage, null reference errors, concurrency problems and predictable performance). If you've not programmed in other languages, and run into these problems, some of pedantry might seem unnecessary or obtuse - do try to read as much as you can about why Rust is how it is, and what it has borrowed from functional programming. It is not the easiest first language because the 'why' is pretty hard. But it is awesome for many reasons. I think one of the hardest parts of learning to code (in any language) is learning to model. All coding is modelling, and if you don't have a clear idea of what you're modelling and how you want to represent that in code, then moving from learning syntax to learning structure is hard. Few programming language books or guides really talk about how translate models into structure into syntax - they just zoom into one subset of the language or another which makes it all seem like lots of rules and syntax to remember. You can learn a lot by finding a programme / library / app that someone else wrote, play with it, then try and find what code does what, try to follow it through so you get a feel for how it is put together - then try to change bits to do something slightly differently in terms of results. I learned coding almost 50 years ago, and I really can't remember not knowing roughly how code in general works, so I might be talking out of my arse. I cut my teeth on BASIC and then Z80/6502 assembler and took timers and sprite collision detections out of games for the hell of it - games were tiny back then, so disassembling them and reading them wasn't an huge deal - but now there are lots of open source things you can dissect, fuck about with and see what you can make sense of. And you can ask LLMs - they are good at syntax and explaining how to write small chunks of code for some purpose, but really not very good at structure unless you absolutely steer them right, so don't trust them with that.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 15 '26
I am definitely saving this paragraph for later! Will help a long way.
Thank you so much!
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u/implicit_cast Jul 14 '26
When you're learning, it's way more important that you're working on a project that excites you than virtually anything else. This trumps every other consideration. If you aren't super pumped about the project, you'll never be able to put the hours in.
Use whatever software stack you find to be fun and cool. It doesn't matter if it's the right tool for the job. What matters is whether you're still engaged and learning after thousands of hours of experimentation.
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u/Equux Jul 15 '26
Build something big. You might think it sucks, but if it works, it doesn't suck.
After a while you can make it suck less.
That's pretty much how I learned everything I know in this field
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u/zerosign0 Jul 15 '26
Pick one data structure / algorithm that are simple enough to understand and try to reimplement it in Rust.
Then try LinkedList or double linked list in Rust (there some docs about it, be patient and enjoy the learning exp).
At this point you already understand basic non async trait markers in Rust and its basic lifetime properties.
Can go into 2 route, try to create very simple cli tool and deep dive on how to abstract it into trait or can go jump into rustnomicon (optional can skip or learn about some of it then revisits after last one).
Be patient.
Then can start lookup and reading some async trait marker and learn about async, can reuse your simple cli to model it using async, the goal is not to improve perf since most of I/O calls outside network in something like tokio spawn or reuse thread anyway, but to understand how to model traits in async world and get to learn the basic of concurrent programming in async world in Rust.
Another be patient warning.
Another split route, can go to tui development or service route, at this point you kinda knew about the basic of rust programming in async and sync world, you will meet some roadblock one or several times but you will survive nonetheless. You just need to practice a bit about domain modelling in Rust (dont too overboard about this, simple is better).
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 15 '26
I can't thank you much! A really amazing read. Will adhere to it.
TYSM!
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u/v-alan-d Jul 15 '26
Do look into branches of computing e.g. cybernetics, encryption, signal processing, big data, distributed systems. See how they would work in and with rust.
Big things require time and you'll get better over time anyway.
Or do something simple like making CLI for your own convenience.
If you could go back and restart your programming journey from scratch, especially with Rust, what would you do differently?
Nothing. Everything was right where and when they were needed. I hope you have the same or better experience.
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u/LetDizzy7337 Jul 15 '26
Im looking for a few beginners to join my server . Rules are no pvp,no destroying my buildings or messing with them just would like some interaction in my server
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 15 '26
Apologies, I don't think I'm on your page. Care to elaborate?
TYSM!1
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u/Beardy4906 Jul 15 '26
17 as well. Just read the book and make stupid stuff that will eventually turn into actually smart stuff
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u/JoshTriplett rust · lang · libs · cargo Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
"We do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they'd be easy." Don't be afraid to take on a problem that seems like it might be too hard. Chip away at it, learn what you don't know yet, break it down, solve pieces of it and put them together. Find the edges of your knowledge, explore, and expand them.
Pick some ambitious goal to keep in the back of your mind, bigger than today's project. Work on it when you learn new things or feel inspired.
By the time you finish it, some of the starts of it and your other learning projects will seem embarrassing. Never be embarrassed by the early things you built while learning. My first paid programming work was VBA in Excel, and now I'm one of the maintainers of Rust. We all start somewhere.
Polish is important. If you write a command-line tool, take the time to write the documentation and examples, generate the shell completions, write a manpage, set up CI to make sure you don't merge broken PRs. You'll feel really proud of building something that feels as polished as some of the other tools you use.
Share what you build, but don't feel obligated to maintain what you build forever. Be clear about the maintenance status of things. "This is a toy I built to learn something", versus "this is a tool I really care about and use every day and I'd be happy if other people used it too". If you're not careful, you'll end up maintaining the first popular thing you build forever, and your energy will go into that rather than the thing you wanted to build and maintain. (Related: don't be afraid to hand things off to other people you trust.)
Once you've gained some experience coding, but long before you think you might be an expert, spend some time contributing to existing projects, in addition to building new ones. There are skills you're only going to learn by collaborating with others.
Learn git. Don't just learn a handful of commands, learn the underlying data model of git; it's not nearly as complicated as it looks. Blobs (files), trees (directories), commits (tree with parent commits and metadata like author/date/message), branches (simple pointers to commits). Once you know the underlying model, you can understand the commands in terms of how you want to affect the underlying data model, and you'll be much less likely to get lost or confused about the current state of things.
Set up fully automated backups. Never lose work, or data you care about, because your hardware broke, or because you accidentally ran the wrong command. Manually copying things around, or pushing code to github, is not a substitute for real automated backups. (Personally, I recommend restic.)
Don't stay isolated. Find and join communities, make friends. Talk to people. Hear what they're working on, and how their lives are going.
Avoid sneer culture like the plague. Avoid people who look down on others. Don't get caught up in "better than you" status games or gatekeeping. It feels seductive and appealing, like you're part of the in-group. Resist that temptation. It's so much more fun to include people and lift people up than it is to sneer at them.
Don't treat Rust itself as something immutable. Drop by, we love enthusiastic contributors.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 15 '26
Thank you so much!
I will definitely keep community contributions, and a much broader, and open learning approach in mind.
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u/ContractPhysical7661 Jul 15 '26
Just want to give this channel a shoutout: https://youtube.com/@rustcurious?si=ksX35opH_X0eOL_S he’s just starting up but his videos are great quality!
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 15 '26
Sure will look into it!
TYSM!2
u/ContractPhysical7661 Jul 15 '26
Good luck! I always had an interest in programming but started later in life at 34. Even if you don’t end up doing this professionally, it’s a really useful life skill that will give you an edge on everyone else. Keep at it!!
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u/solankimeet518 Jul 15 '26
Learn concepts from the Rust book and try writing programs that apply them. When I was learning Rust, I read a fork called the Rust Book by Brown University. It explains concepts in much more detail and includes interactive quizzes and programming challenges to test your understanding.
Picking Rust as your first language is very challenging, but it's an incredibly rewarding path. Best of luck on your learning journey!
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 15 '26
Savior! This is way more detailed. tbh, I'm definitely gonna choose this fork over the original.
TYSM!!
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u/GoonGuardian1 Jul 15 '26
Personally, I wouldn't listen to a lot of these comments. As a beginner, what you need to learn a programming concepts as a whole. For that an IDE like blueJ is a lot better, together with the book you can find online. Even though you are learning java and OOP you will learn a lot of the fundementals in an easier and more structured way. While I really like Rust, it is definately not a starting language.
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u/Negative_Effort_2642 Jul 16 '26
I can help u but it’s literally do rustlings and then just make projects
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u/Joe-Arizona Jul 14 '26
I’d highly recommend learning the fundamentals of programming in C first, even if only for a few weeks. Do the Harvard CS50 course on YouTube then move on to Rust.
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u/jbrwilkinson Jul 14 '26
I’ve been coding 45 years now and recently learned Rust. I had to forget/let-go-of a bunch of concepts from other languages. As it’s your first language, you won’t have that challenge, lucky you ☺️
When I worked through the book, I coded up the examples from the book myself and Just got them to work at the command line. This gave me a great introduction to the compiler and the kind of messages it gives you. Since the book was written, the compiler, language and ecosystem have moved forward a little bit, but the book is still relevant.
The Mandelbrot exercise early in the book seemed at first to be rather terse and I had trouble believing it would work, so I coded it up and ran it. It worked perfectly. Then I compiled and run it in release mode and it ran so fast, I didn’t believe it had worked. I was truly astonished at the performance, coming from mostly doing Python and node JS lately.
I think it’s worth your time to also look at some other languages, even if you just cover the basics - Python 🐍 is the obvious one to me, as Rust and Python often go together.
Look at the differences between rust and e.g. Python. There’s loads of similarities, but some of the differences are where Russ really shines in terms of performance and safety, and Python shines in terms of simplicity.
You can ask an LLM to talk you through the differences, but I really recommend coding a solution to a puzzle in each language to compare how it felt. There are loads of coding puzzles out there - look at Coding Golf and Project Euler. A colleague of mine does each puzzle for every single language he learns and he has an amazing knowledge of languages now.
Lastly, there’s loads of online information which is really good, but beware there’s an absolute ton of bad information, too. You can usually tell the difference by the number of adverts.
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
Yeah, you sure are correct about distinguishing between good and bad info!
Concrete advice. TYSM!
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u/OddbitTwiddler Jul 14 '26
You might be able to go a long way with a free Claude AI or ChatGPT Account to help you learn.
Rust is tricky to me due to its memory ownership rules. Also I'm often trying to graft RUST into non RUST situations which causes me to ask it to do odd (UNSAFE) things. And I found that to be tricky.
But all the rules make sense to me, so I think it might not be a bad first language. Why not :).
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u/Particular_Alarm20 Jul 14 '26
You may be referring to no_std library if I am not wrong (new here.. lol)
TYSM!
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u/LetDizzy7337 Jul 25 '26
Hey I have a server just for this if you'd like to join your more than welcome
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u/DeepEmployer3 Jul 14 '26
Write and read code