Book Image

Hands-On Data Structures and Algorithms with Rust

By : Claus Matzinger
Book Image

Hands-On Data Structures and Algorithms with Rust

By: Claus Matzinger

Overview of this book

Rust has come a long way and is now utilized in several contexts. Its key strengths are its software infrastructure and resource-constrained applications, including desktop applications, servers, and performance-critical applications, not forgetting its importance in systems' programming. This book will be your guide as it takes you through implementing classic data structures and algorithms in Rust, helping you to get up and running as a confident Rust programmer. The book begins with an introduction to Rust data structures and algorithms, while also covering essential language constructs. You will learn how to store data using linked lists, arrays, stacks, and queues. You will also learn how to implement sorting and searching algorithms. You will learn how to attain high performance by implementing algorithms to string data types and implement hash structures in algorithm design. The book will examine algorithm analysis, including Brute Force algorithms, Greedy algorithms, Divide and Conquer algorithms, Dynamic Programming, and Backtracking. By the end of the book, you will have learned how to build components that are easy to understand, debug, and use in different applications.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)

Preface

When I first made the effort of learning one programming language a year, I started with Ruby, then learned a bit of Scala, until, in 2015, I started with a very new language: Rust. My first attempts at creating a Slack (a team chat program) bot were somewhat successful but very frustrating. Being used to Python's flexibility with JSON data and permissive compiler, Rust's steep learning curve quickly took its toll.

The next projects were more successful. A database driver, as well as my very own Internet of Things (IoT)-type client and server application for the Raspberry Pi, allowed me to collect temperature data in a rock-solid manner. Unlike Python, if the program compiled, it would almost certainly work as expected—and I loved it.

Since then, a lot has changed. Big companies such as Microsoft and Amazon are picking up Rust as a way to create safe and fast code on embedded devices as well as in the cloud. With WebAssembly (Wasm), Rust is gaining traction in the web frontend space, and gaming companies are starting to build game engines in Rust. 2018 has been a great year for the technology and the Rust community, both of which will continue to grow in 2019 (and beyond).

For this reason, I hope to provide a learning resource for creating more sophisticated Rust code from a practical angle. Wherever your journey leads you, learning about Rust and its various programming models will change your view of code for the better.