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From the Rust book intro: "After reading this introduction, you’ll want to dive into either ‘Learn Rust’ or ‘Syntax and Semantics’, depending on your preference

by muraiki 11y ago

From the Rust book intro: "After reading this introduction, you’ll want to dive into either ‘Learn Rust’ or ‘Syntax and Semantics’, depending on your preference: ‘Learn Rust’ if you want to dive in with a project, or ‘Syntax and Semantics’ if you prefer to start small, and learn a single concept thoroughly before moving onto the next. Copious cross-linking connects these parts together." It sounds like you should have started at "Syntax and Semantics". For me, I really enjoyed starting in "Learn Rust" because I'm more of a "learn by doing" kind of person, and I find that I cannot retain any information from pages of syntax descriptions. Neither of us are wrong, we're just both different when it comes to learning.

logicallee 11y ago
I didn't read through that book, I've never tried learning Rust so that's why I googled Rust tutorial so I would have an unbiased opinion on the first thing I found. You've just LITERALLY made my point for me by quoting instructions that sound like they expect to spend 20 hours on this thing right now, including referencing two other tutorials. Imagine if the first time you used a hammer it came with a reference to three different books you should read about it. That would be stupid - nobody would use a hammer then. They should replace their expectation of 20 hours with 20 well-chosen lines anyone can use to start. If the language doesn't do that because it's too high-context, change the language so it's easier. Baby steps in Rust, or any other language, shouldn't take any number of days.
- muraiki 11y ago
  You can use a saw to cut a stick in half, but you can also use it to create joinery. Learning something as complex as joinery -- and doing it well -- is necessarily going to take some time... even though you could probably teach an ape to use a saw. Different learning resources have different goals. This is a book that is meant to be comprehensive, but also provides two different ways to approach learning the language. The target audience of this book was never intended to be someone who only wants to devote 20 lines of effort to learning a programming language. If that's what you want, read http://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/rust/ http://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/rust/ Edit: But when you realize you can't grok language semantics like borrow checking or sum types for results, you might have to spend more than 20 lines of code to understand the usage and benefits of those concepts. This is when you move from sawing to joinery.
  - logicallee 11y ago
    except it's more like, "we have joinery equipment that is smart enough to safely drive a car in the place of a human driver - but we still won't let you just ask it to cut a stick in half. Learn a new trade, become a joiner if you want to cut wood!" Because my gripe isn't that joinery exists as a trade - it's that equipment that is so smart still won't do simple things for the user - on principle. People actively design their tools so they won't do something simple. Yes, really.

by muraiki 11y ago

logicallee 11y ago

I didn't read through that book, I've never tried learning Rust so that's why I googled Rust tutorial so I would have an unbiased opinion on the first thing I found. You've just LITERALLY made my point for me by quoting instructions that sound like they expect to spend 20 hours on this thing right now, including referencing two other tutorials. Imagine if the first time you used a hammer it came with a reference to three different books you should read about it. That would be stupid - nobody would use a hammer then. They should replace their expectation of 20 hours with 20 well-chosen lines anyone can use to start. If the language doesn't do that because it's too high-context, change the language so it's easier. Baby steps in Rust, or any other language, shouldn't take any number of days.

muraiki 11y ago
You can use a saw to cut a stick in half, but you can also use it to create joinery. Learning something as complex as joinery -- and doing it well -- is necessarily going to take some time... even though you could probably teach an ape to use a saw. Different learning resources have different goals. This is a book that is meant to be comprehensive, but also provides two different ways to approach learning the language. The target audience of this book was never intended to be someone who only wants to devote 20 lines of effort to learning a programming language. If that's what you want, read http://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/rust/ http://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/rust/ Edit: But when you realize you can't grok language semantics like borrow checking or sum types for results, you might have to spend more than 20 lines of code to understand the usage and benefits of those concepts. This is when you move from sawing to joinery.
- logicallee 11y ago
  except it's more like, "we have joinery equipment that is smart enough to safely drive a car in the place of a human driver - but we still won't let you just ask it to cut a stick in half. Learn a new trade, become a joiner if you want to cut wood!" Because my gripe isn't that joinery exists as a trade - it's that equipment that is so smart still won't do simple things for the user - on principle. People actively design their tools so they won't do something simple. Yes, really.