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I read the rust tutorial up to chap 16, currently reading too-many-list and have not read nomicon, I know python, javascript, golang pretty well. And I know a b

I read the rust tutorial up to chap 16, currently reading too-many-list and have not read nomicon, I know python, javascript, golang pretty well. And I know a bit of java and scala. Usually I learn language by implementing data structures: linked list, tree, graph. If I can do those then I am pretty confident in doing mostly everything else. Rust is really the first language that I have trouble with writing simple data structure, I have a bit of issue with scala on covariant and contravariant generics and monads, but they are not bad after I learned it. For rust everything is awesome until I get to pointers since I have to wrestle with nested smart pointer that makes it insanely hard to manipulate, the rc, refcell nesting is just not very ergonomic (maybe once I learn unsafe it will be easier?). I like rust paradigm alot since it brings safety and speed, so I was wondering if I am missing anything since I am having some trouble.

steveklabnik 9y ago
Gotcha, thanks. Based on what you know, I'd say pointers and stuff like memory layout are generally going to be where you have issues, and data structures are basically an exercise in applied pointers and memory layout. So you shouldn't feel bad! Regarding what you should do next, reading the last few chapters of the book (19 in particular will be useful for you) would be good; and chapter 20 is a project, which it seems like you are looking for. I can also highly recommend the new O'Reilly book as well. > I was wondering if I am missing anything Nope, I think it's just that your experience led you astray. If I need a linked list in Rust, I... well, I don't ever use linked lists (you can read the book for why). If I had to, I'd use the one in the stdlib. If I need a graph in Rust, I use petgraph from crates.io. Basically, other people are good at writing data structures, so I use their work as much as possible. Only if I'm particularly interested in a specific structure, or I require one that doesn't have some implementation out there yet, do I try to write my own. Of course, at some point you'll want to learn it, but it's just going to be frustrating until it clicks. The less frustrated you are with the rest of Rust when that happens, the less overall frustration you'll have. > (maybe once I learn unsafe it will be easier?) That's very possible. Often, you can take a C implementation and translate it into unsafe Rust. Many data structures use unsafe internally, and present a safe interface. Good luck on your journey! I hope it all makes sense for you soon.

steveklabnik 9y ago

Gotcha, thanks. Based on what you know, I'd say pointers and stuff like memory layout are generally going to be where you have issues, and data structures are basically an exercise in applied pointers and memory layout. So you shouldn't feel bad! Regarding what you should do next, reading the last few chapters of the book (19 in particular will be useful for you) would be good; and chapter 20 is a project, which it seems like you are looking for. I can also highly recommend the new O'Reilly book as well. > I was wondering if I am missing anything Nope, I think it's just that your experience led you astray. If I need a linked list in Rust, I... well, I don't ever use linked lists (you can read the book for why). If I had to, I'd use the one in the stdlib. If I need a graph in Rust, I use petgraph from crates.io. Basically, other people are good at writing data structures, so I use their work as much as possible. Only if I'm particularly interested in a specific structure, or I require one that doesn't have some implementation out there yet, do I try to write my own. Of course, at some point you'll want to learn it, but it's just going to be frustrating until it clicks. The less frustrated you are with the rest of Rust when that happens, the less overall frustration you'll have. > (maybe once I learn unsafe it will be easier?) That's very possible. Often, you can take a C implementation and translate it into unsafe Rust. Many data structures use unsafe internally, and present a safe interface. Good luck on your journey! I hope it all makes sense for you soon.