Where Am I At?

Well first, a recap. I am following Tim McNamara's “How to Learn Rust" course. I started following the course, got to the examples and realised at that point that this is not a course that covers the Rust part, but merely a good way of stepping through how to learn Rust - duh. So, on this, I have started with the linked Microsoft course on learning Rust which really does cover all the basics. I am also following Google's comprehensive Rust course as this does the same, though with a bit more speed as this assumes prior programming knowledge in a bit more depth.

TLDR : Learning the basics.

The Basics of Rust

I mentioned above the Microsoft and Google courses for Rust. I will link them at the bottom of the article as they are really beneficial for learning Rust syntax and features.

I find the Google course better for me, as it goes a bit faster and explains in a way that makes sense to someone familiar with the concepts already. If you hadn't researched Rust already, I would probably start with the Microsoft course.

Still, both seem great and while they both cover the same things, they explain it slightly differently which can help cement the idea.

The Moment

In completing the day 1 afternoon exercises on the Google course, I was able to do the "Library" project without reaching for help. I really had "the moment" where it just clicked. I was able to write and modify the code to get it working as expected. In some cases, I got it the first time and in others, the compiler really shined in helping me fix the errors. I then played around with the code, made it fail and understood what the difference I was making was. It was such a great feeling and I can only recommend digging in and trying to write it for yourself. Then breaking it. Then going again.

Once I was happy with my solution, I figured there was a more idiomatic Rust way, so I tried ChatGPT. Sure enough, it refactored my 10 lines into 1. Humbling, sure. Useful, absolutely. Again, I could come away with a better understanding than what I started with.

The Google solutions were in line with what I made and the ChatGPT refactor. So you can also just look there too as they are well documented.

What Next?

I shall continue with the Google and Microsoft courses. There is a lot of content to cover but I am steadily making progress. If you are doing the same thing as me, keep at it. I am trying to do at least 30 minutes a day, even if it's just some reading and going back to it later to complete some exercises. But in a week (a busy one at that) - I have made some great progress and am feeling so good about continuing.