Onboarding Guide for Rust Learners
This page is in active construction and welcome to feedback for any inaccuracies.
Last updated
This page is in active construction and welcome to feedback for any inaccuracies.
Last updated
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.
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 A one-page visual cheat sheet covering syntax, error handling, pattern matching, and tooling commands.
Rustlings – Free/Beginner 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 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)
Google Comprehensive Rust (YouTube Lectures) – Free Companion videos for the text course. Search: Comprehensive Rust Google YouTube.
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.
Cargo (Rust Package Manager) Default toolchain for building, testing, and publishing Rust projects. Key commands include:
cargo build, cargo test, cargo run
cargo check (fast compile checks)
cargo install (install binaries)
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.
Substrate Runtime Track – Free/Advanced Create pallets and blockchains: https://docs.substrate.io/tutorials/
Rust Discord Server https://discord.gg/rust-lang Join channels like #beginners, #compiler, #webdev, and #wasm for targeted help.
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.
🟢 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
Let’s Get Rusty – Free/Beginner–Intermediate 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 Deep-dive technical sessions on advanced Rust concepts like traits, lifetimes, async, and performance tuning.
RustConf Talks – Free/All Levels Annual conference talks featuring real-world Rust use cases, async systems, and compiler design.
VS Code Rust Analyzer – Free Language server providing inline type hints, jump-to-definition, autocompletion, and refactoring tools.
Rustlings CLI Track – Free Beginner CLI course walking through ownership, enums, modules, and iterators with feedback on errors.
Solana/Anchor Track – Free/Advanced Write real on-chain programs with Rust: Use Anchor framework:
r/rust Subreddit Daily posts, beginner advice, project showcases, and tooling tips.
: Parses Cardano chain data in Rust
: Rust chain observer for Cardano