Book Image

Practical System Programming for Rust Developers

By : Prabhu Eshwarla
Book Image

Practical System Programming for Rust Developers

By: Prabhu Eshwarla

Overview of this book

Modern programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, and Java have become increasingly accepted for application-level programming, but for systems programming, C and C++ are predominantly used due to the need for low-level control of system resources. Rust promises the best of both worlds: the type safety of Java, and the speed and expressiveness of C++, while also including memory safety without a garbage collector. This book is a comprehensive introduction if you’re new to Rust and systems programming and are looking to build reliable and efficient systems software without C or C++. The book takes a unique approach by starting each topic with Linux kernel concepts and APIs relevant to that topic. You’ll also explore how system resources can be controlled from Rust. As you progress, you’ll delve into advanced topics. You’ll cover network programming, focusing on aspects such as working with low-level network primitives and protocols in Rust, before going on to learn how to use and compile Rust with WebAssembly. Later chapters will take you through practical code examples and projects to help you build on your knowledge. By the end of this Rust programming book, you will be equipped with practical skills to write systems software tools, libraries, and utilities in Rust.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
1
Section 1: Getting Started with System Programming in Rust
6
Section 2: Managing and Controlling System Resources in Rust
12
Section 3: Advanced Topics

Technical requirements

Rustup must be installed in the local development environment. Use this link for installation: https://github.com/rust-lang/rustup.

Refer to the following link for official installation instructions: https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install.

After installation, check rustc, and cargo have been installed correctly with the following commands:

rustc --version 
cargo --version

You must have access to any code editor of your choice.

Some of the code and commands in this chapter, especially those related to shared libraries and setting paths, require a Linux system environment. It is recommended to install a local virtual machine such as VirtualBox or equivalent with a Linux installation for working with the code in this chapter. Instructions to install VirtualBox can be found at https://www.virtualbox.org.

The Git repo for the examples in this chapter can be found at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Practical-System-Programming-for-Rust-Developers/tree/master/Chapter01.