Comprehensive Rust : Tools And Workflow

Comprehensive Rust is an open-source, multi-day Rust programming course developed by Google’s Android team.

It provides an in-depth exploration of Rust, covering foundational concepts like syntax, ownership, and error handling, as well as advanced topics such as concurrency, generics, and bare-metal programming.

Designed for experienced software engineers with backgrounds in C++ or Java, the course is primarily delivered in classroom settings to facilitate interactive learning and discussions.

Tools Used In Comprehensive Rust

The course is built and managed using a suite of tools that streamline content creation, testing, and delivery:

1. mdBook: A tool for creating modern online books from Markdown files. It forms the backbone of the course structure.
2. mdbook-svgbob: Enables rendering diagrams within the course content.
3. mdbook-i18n-helpers and i18n-report: Assist in managing translations for multilingual support.
4. mdbook-exerciser: Facilitates embedding interactive exercises within the course.
5. mdbook-linkcheck: Ensures all internal links are functional, maintaining content integrity.
6. mdbook-course: Provides additional features tailored for educational courses.

Workflow For Building And Running The Course

To get started, users must first install Rust via rustup.rs. After cloning the repository (git clone https://github.com/google/comprehensive-rust/), they can install the necessary tools using a provided script (install-mdbook.sh). The workflow includes:

• Testing Code Snippets: Run mdbook test to validate all embedded Rust examples.
• Serving Locally: Use mdbook serve to start a local web server at http://localhost:3000 for previewing the course.
• Building Static Content: The mdbook build command generates a static version of the course in the book/ directory. Exercises need to be separately compiled and added to the output directory.

For translated versions, users can build specific language editions using environment variables like MDBOOK_BOOK__LANGUAGE=xx, where xx represents an ISO 639 language code.

Contributions are welcomed via GitHub following the guidelines in CONTRIBUTING.md. For inquiries or feedback, Martin Geisler can be contacted, or discussions can be initiated on GitHub.