Rust Learning Plan: Overview

This comprehensive 6-month Rust learning curriculum is designed for experienced developers transitioning to Rust, particularly those with a background in JavaScript/Node.js and React. It provides a structured path from beginner to expert level Rust programming.

Learning Path Overview

The curriculum is divided into four main sections:

Phase 1: Beginner (Weeks 1-6)

Week 1: Ecosystem (Beginner)

  • Day 1-2: Development Environment & Tools
  • Day 3-4: Package Management & Project Structure
  • Day 5-7: Tooling & Community

Weeks 2-6: Basics (Beginner)

  • Week 2: Fundamentals (variables, data types, functions, control flow, ownership)
  • Week 3: Ownership Deep Dive (references, borrowing, slices, string types)
  • Week 4: Structs & Enums (custom types, pattern matching, Option/Result)
  • Week 5: Error Handling & Collections (Vec, HashMap, iterators)
  • Week 6: Modules & Crates (organization, visibility, documentation)

Phase 2: Intermediate (Weeks 7-12)

  • Week 7: Generics & Traits (generic types, trait bounds)
  • Week 8: Advanced Traits & Lifetimes (trait objects, advanced patterns)
  • Week 9: Concurrency & Parallelism (threads, shared state, message passing)
  • Week 10: Async Rust (async/await, Tokio)
  • Week 11: Project Work (CLI app with Clap)
  • Week 12: Web Development (REST APIs with Axum, SQLx)

Phase 3: Advanced (Weeks 13-23)

Weeks 13-15: Advanced Rust Patterns

  • Week 13: Advanced Memory Management (allocators, smart pointers, ownership patterns)
  • Week 14: Unsafe Rust (raw pointers, FFI, safe abstractions)
  • Week 15: Advanced Design Patterns (type-state programming, zero-sized types, GATs)

Weeks 16-18: Systems Programming

  • Week 16: FFI and C Interoperability (C bindings, ABI, callbacks)
  • Week 17: Low-level Programming (memory-mapped I/O, OS interfaces, inline assembly)
  • Week 18: Embedded Rust (no-std, bare-metal, real-time systems)

Weeks 19-21: Performance and Optimization

  • Week 19: Performance Analysis (benchmarking, profiling, performance patterns)
  • Week 20: SIMD and Parallel Computing (vector intrinsics, rayon, lock-free structures)
  • Week 21: Advanced Optimizations (compiler optimizations, memory layout, allocation)

Weeks 22-23: Specialized Applications

  • Week 22: WebAssembly with Rust (wasm-bindgen, frontend frameworks)
  • Week 23: Advanced Concurrency Patterns (custom synchronization, executors, futures)

Phase 4: Expert (Week 24)

  • Week 24: Capstone Project (combining multiple advanced concepts)

Curriculum Structure

Each week’s plan includes:

  • Daily topics with progressive complexity
  • Curated learning resources (official docs, books, videos)
  • Real-world use cases and applications
  • Hands-on exercises and projects
  • Advanced challenges for deeper exploration

How to Use This Plan

  1. Each week has a dedicated markdown file in the corresponding difficulty directory
  2. Files follow the naming pattern: <topic>-week<number>.md
  3. Each file contains:
    • Detailed topics to be covered
    • Links to resources
    • Use cases for each concept
    • Exercises and challenges

Time Commitment & Learning Style

This curriculum is designed for approximately 2 hours of daily focused learning, combining:

  • Conceptual learning from documentation and resources
  • Practical coding exercises and experiments
  • Progressive project development
  • Regular review and practice

Documentation Organization

This learning plan is organized into four main documentation sections:

  1. Overview (this document) - High-level summary and guidance
  2. Rust Ecosystem - Comprehensive guide to Rust tooling, community, and resources
  3. Plan - Detailed week-by-week learning curriculum
  4. Reading Materials - Curated list of learning resources by skill level

Skill Progression

Beginner Phase (Weeks 1-6)

By the end of the beginner phase, you’ll understand:

  • Rust’s unique ownership model and memory safety guarantees
  • Basic syntax, control flow, and data types
  • Structs, enums, and pattern matching
  • Error handling approaches
  • Package and module organization

Intermediate Phase (Weeks 7-12)

The intermediate phase builds on fundamentals to cover:

  • Generics and trait-based programming
  • Lifetimes and advanced type patterns
  • Concurrency primitives and parallel execution
  • Async programming with futures and tasks
  • Practical application development (CLI, web)

Advanced Phase (Weeks 13-23)

The advanced phase explores systems programming concepts:

  • Advanced memory management techniques
  • Unsafe Rust operations with safe abstractions
  • Advanced design patterns unique to Rust
  • FFI and interoperability with C code
  • Low-level systems programming
  • Embedded development without the standard library
  • Performance analysis and optimization techniques
  • SIMD and vectorized computation
  • WebAssembly development
  • Advanced concurrency patterns

Expert Phase (Week 24)

The expert phase focuses on:

  • Capstone project combining multiple advanced concepts
  • Applying knowledge from all previous weeks to create a complex application

Prerequisites

For Beginner Phase (Weeks 1-6)

  • Programming experience (ideally JavaScript/TypeScript)
  • Basic understanding of computer science concepts
  • Familiarity with command-line tools

For Intermediate Phase (Weeks 7-12)

  • Solid understanding of Rust fundamentals, including ownership
  • Experience with basic Rust syntax and concepts
  • Completion of beginner exercises

For Advanced Phase (Weeks 13-23)

  • Experience with traits, generics, and lifetimes
  • Comfort with concurrent and async Rust programming
  • Completed at least one substantial Rust project

For Expert Phase (Week 24)

  • Mastery of all previous concepts
  • Experience with multiple Rust projects
  • Understanding of systems-level programming concepts

Resources

The plan incorporates various learning resources:

  • The Rust Book (official documentation)
  • Rust By Example
  • Rustlings exercises
  • Topic-specific books and tutorials
  • Community resources and blogs
  • Advanced books like “Rust for Rustaceans” and “The Rustonomicon”

See the reading-materials.md file for a comprehensive list of resources for all skill levels.

Getting Started

Begin with Week 1: Rust Ecosystem to set up your development environment and understand the Rust ecosystem before diving into coding.

For advanced topics (weeks 13-23), it’s essential to have completed or be comfortable with all the beginner and intermediate topics first.

You can use Rust Playground to practice and experiment with Rust code.

Progress Tracking Recommendations

Consider tracking your progress by:

  1. Creating a GitHub repository for your learning journey
  2. Committing code exercises and projects regularly
  3. Maintaining notes on concepts learned and challenges encountered
  4. Creating a learning journal to document your experience
  5. Building a portfolio of Rust projects as you progress

This curriculum provides a structured path to Rust mastery, blending theoretical knowledge with practical application at each stage of the journey.