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

The Git repo for the code in this chapter can be found at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Practical-System-Programming-for-Rust-Developers/tree/master/Chapter07/tui.

For those working on the Windows platform, a virtual machine needs to be installed for this chapter, as the third-party crate used for terminal management does not support the Windows platform (at the time of writing this book). It is recommended to install a virtual machine such as VirtualBox or equivalent running Linux for working with the code in this chapter. Instructions to install VirtualBox can be found at https://www.virtualbox.org.

For working with terminals, Rust provides several features to read keypresses and to control standard input and standard output for a process. When a user types characters in the command line, the bytes generated are available to the program when the user presses the Enter key. This is useful for several types of programs. But for some types of programs...