😁Onboarding Guide for Rust Learners
This page is in active construction and welcome to feedback for any inaccuracies.
🦀 Rust Language Learning Resources (All Levels)
Rust is a fast, memory-safe systems programming language that is widely used in blockchain development, including infrastructure tools for Cardano and other ecosystems like Solana and Substrate. Its strict compiler, ownership model, and zero-cost abstractions make it ideal for secure, high-performance software.
Below, resources are organized into documentation, tutorials, video walkthroughs, interactive platforms, and Cardano-relevant tooling. A structured learning path at the end will guide you from complete beginner to blockchain-ready developer.
📘 Documentation & Language References
The Rust Book – Free/All Levels https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ The official and most comprehensive guide to Rust. Covers installation, syntax, ownership, borrowing, traits, lifetimes, concurrency, and macros with examples and diagrams.
Rust by Example – Free/Beginner–Intermediate https://doc.rust-lang.org/rust-by-example Hands-on code snippets showing idiomatic usage for every core Rust feature.
The Rust Reference – Free/Advanced https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/ Detailed language documentation describing the Rust compiler and internals. Ideal for experienced developers seeking deeper understanding.
Rustonomicon – Free/Advanced https://doc.rust-lang.org/nomicon A guide to unsafe Rust for writing high-performance or low-level systems code. Covers raw pointers, FFI, lifetimes, and more.
Cheats.rs – Free/All Levels https://cheats.rs/ A one-page visual cheat sheet covering syntax, error handling, pattern matching, and tooling commands.
📚 Tutorials & Example Projects
Rustlings – Free/Beginner https://github.com/rust-lang/rustlings A CLI-based tutorial with exercises that walk you through key Rust concepts. Includes syntax, ownership, borrowing, and error handling.
Comprehensive Rust (Google) – Free/Beginner–Intermediate https://google.github.io/comprehensive-rust/ A large, lecture-style tutorial with in-depth coverage of syntax, traits, lifetimes, and async.
Zero to Production in Rust – Paid/Intermediate–Advanced https://www.zero2prod.com/ A book + project series walking you through building a production-grade web app with Rust, Actix, PostgreSQL, and CI/CD practices.
Rust Cookbook – Free/Intermediate https://rust-lang-nursery.github.io/rust-cookbook/ Idiomatic Rust code samples for practical problems: file I/O, encoding, CLI parsing, HTTP requests, etc.
Blockchain Example Projects (Solana/Substrate)
🎥 Video Courses & Walkthroughs
Let’s Get Rusty – Free/Beginner–Intermediate https://www.youtube.com/@LetsGetRusty Popular Rust YouTube channel covering beginner topics, full-stack projects, async, and more. Great pacing for new learners.
Crust of Rust (Jon Gjengset) – Free/Intermediate–Advanced https://www.youtube.com/c/jonhoo Deep-dive technical sessions on advanced Rust concepts like traits, lifetimes, async, and performance tuning.
RustConf Talks – Free/All Levels https://www.youtube.com/@RustConf Annual conference talks featuring real-world Rust use cases, async systems, and compiler design.
Google Comprehensive Rust (YouTube Lectures) – Free Companion videos for the text course. Search: Comprehensive Rust Google YouTube.
💻 Interactive Platforms & Development Tools
Rust Playground – Free https://play.rust-lang.org/ Browser-based sandbox to experiment with Rust code instantly. Useful for testing ideas without setting up an environment.
Exercism Rust Track – Free https://exercism.org/tracks/rust Over 100 structured exercises, mentor feedback, and progression from beginner to advanced concepts.
Codewars (Rust Kata) – Free https://www.codewars.com/kata/latest/my-languages?language=rust Solve community-submitted challenges (beginner to expert) in Rust to sharpen skills.
Replit Rust Projects – Free https://replit.com/languages/rust Web-based Rust IDE for collaborative projects and quick experiments.
VS Code Rust Analyzer – Free https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=rust-lang.rust-analyzer Language server providing inline type hints, jump-to-definition, autocompletion, and refactoring tools.
Cargo (Rust Package Manager) Default toolchain for building, testing, and publishing Rust projects. Key commands include:
cargo build,cargo test,cargo runcargo check(fast compile checks)cargo install(install binaries)
🧑🏫 Structured Learning Tracks
Rustlings CLI Track – Free https://github.com/rust-lang/rustlings Beginner CLI course walking through ownership, enums, modules, and iterators with feedback on errors.
Exercism Rust Track – Free https://exercism.org/tracks/rust Practice progression with test-driven coding tasks. Includes mentor support and gamified tracking.
Codecrafters – Paid/Intermediate–Advanced https://codecrafters.io/tracks/rust Real-world system programming challenges (e.g. building a Redis clone, Docker, etc.).
Zero to Production Course – Paid Build production-grade APIs, implement CI pipelines, and deploy apps.
Solana/Anchor Track – Free/Advanced Write real on-chain programs with Rust: https://soldev.app/ Use Anchor framework: https://www.anchor-lang.com/
Substrate Runtime Track – Free/Advanced Create pallets and blockchains: https://docs.substrate.io/tutorials/
🌐 Community Resources & Support
Rust Discord Server https://discord.gg/rust-lang Join channels like #beginners, #compiler, #webdev, and #wasm for targeted help.
r/rust Subreddit https://reddit.com/r/rust Daily posts, beginner advice, project showcases, and tooling tips.
Rust Users Forum https://users.rust-lang.org/ Great for long-form questions and deep architectural discussions.
Cardano Rust Projects (TxPipe)
Cardano Discord (#rust-dev)
Active collaboration around Rust tooling in Cardano. Check #pallas, #oura, or similar channels.
🧭 Suggested Learning Path
🟢 Getting Started
Syntax, Ownership, Borrowing
Rust Book, Rustlings, Let’s Get Rusty
🟡 Build Projects
Traits, Structs, Enums, Collections
Rust by Example, Exercism, Google Rust Course
🔵 Full-Stack Dev
Async, Web APIs, Actix, Axum
Zero2Prod, Crust of Rust, Cargo, Codecrafters
🟣 Blockchain Dev
Smart Contracts, Chain Tooling
Solana/Anchor, Substrate, Oura/Pallas projects
🟠 Community
Collaboration, Open Source Contribution
Rust Discord, Reddit, Cardano Rust Projects on GitHub
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