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

Chapter 7: Implementing Terminal I/O in Rust

In the previous chapter, we looked at how to work with files and directories. We also built a shell command in Rust that generates consolidated source code metrics for Rust source files in a project directory.

In this chapter, we will look at building terminal-based applications in Rust. Terminal applications are an integral part of many software programs, including games, text editors, and terminal emulators. For developing these types of programs, it helps to understand how to build customized terminal interface-based applications. This is the focus of this chapter.

For this chapter, we will review the basics of how terminals work, and then look at how to perform various types of actions on a terminal, such as setting colors and styles, performing cursor operations (such as clearing and positioning), and working with keyboard and mouse inputs.

We will cover the topics in the following order:

  • Introducing terminal I/O fundamentals...