tweaking here and there, plans for the future

[rust-101.git] / src / main.rs

diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 4352a505b98ab846be3f3f634eb059c0132616b9..31537dfc5284882dfe6c3aa529af907387928049 100644 (file)
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,29 +1,106 @@
-#![allow(dead_code)]

 // Welcome to Rust-101
 // ===================
 // Welcome to Rust-101
 // ===================

-//
-// This is Rust-101, a small tutorial to the [Rust language](http://www.rust-lang.org/).
-// This is intended to be an interactive, hands-on course: I believe the only way to
+// 
+// This is [Rust-101](https://www.ralfj.de/projects/rust-101/), a small *work-in-progress*
+// tutorial for the [Rust language](http://www.rust-lang.org/).
+// It is intended to be an interactive, hands-on course: I believe the only way to

 // *really* learn a language is to write code in it, so you should be coding during
 // *really* learn a language is to write code in it, so you should be coding during

-// the course. These documents mainly serve as a guide to the teacher, reminding me
-// what to explain in which order, and making sure I have sample code for all topics
-// I plan to cover. They may also be helpful as an offline resource, but you're on your
-// own then.
-
-// I will assume basic familiarity with programming, and hence not explain the basic
+// the course. I am writing this with a tutorial situation in mind, i.e.,
+// with a teacher being around to guide students through the course and answer
+// questions as they come up. However, I think they may also be useful if you
+// work through them on your own, you will just have to show more initiative yourself:
+// Make sure you actually type some code. It may sound stupid to manually copy code
+// that you could duplicate through the clipboard, but it's actually helpful.
+// If you have questions, check out the "Additional Resources" below. In particular,
+// the IRC channel is filled with awesome people willing to help you! I spent
+// lots of time there ;-)
+// 
+// I will assume some familiarity with programming, and hence not explain the basic

 // concepts common to most languages. Instead, I will focus on what makes Rust special.
 // concepts common to most languages. Instead, I will focus on what makes Rust special.

+//
+// Why Rust?
+// ---------
+// 
+// When you got here, I am kind of assuming that you already decided to give Rust at
+// least a look, so that I don't have to do much convincing here ;-) . But just in
+// case, here's why I think Rust is worth learning:<br/>
+// At this time, Rust is a language with a pretty unique set of goals. Rust aims to
+// achieve C++-style control over memory and execution behavior (like, static vs. dynamic
+// dispatch), which makes it possible to construct abstractions that carry no run-time
+// cost. This is combined this with providing the comfort of high-level functional languages
+// and guaranteeing safety (as in, the program will not crash). The vast majority of existing
+// languages sacrificies one of these goals for the other. In particular, the
+// first requirement rules out a garbage collector: Rust can run "mare metal".
+// In fact, Rust rules out more classes of bugs than languages that achieve safety
+// with a GC: Besides dangling pointers and double-free, Rust also prevents issues
+// such as iterator invalidation and race conditions.
+// 
+// 
+// Prerequisites
+// -------------
+// 
+// You will need to have Rust installed, of course. It is available for download on
+// [the Rust website](http://www.rust-lang.org/). At this point, I plan to restrict
+// myself to stable Rust, so "Recommended" version is just right.
+// You can find some more installation instructions in
+// [the second chapter of The Book](https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/book/installing-rust.html).
+// When you are done, running `cargo build` in the root of Rust-101 should successfully compile
+// all the code.
+// 
+// Getting the source
+// ------------------
+// 
+// You are meant to play around with the source code of the course as you go on, so please
+// fetch it from the [git repository](http://www.ralfj.de/git/rust-101.git) (also available
+// [on GitHub](https://github.com/RalfJung/rust-101)).

 
 

-// The actual course is in the partXX.rs files. I suggest you get started with
-// [the first part](part00.html), or jump directly to where you left off:
-
-// * [Part 00](part00.html)
-// * [Part 01](part01.html)
+// Course Content
+// --------------
+// 
+// The actual course is in the partXX.rs files. The part 00-03 cover some basic of the language,
+// to give you a feeling for Rust's syntax and pervasive mechanisms like pattern matching and traits.
+// Parts 04-06 introduce the heart of the language, the mechanism making it different from anything
+// else out there: Ownership, borrowing, lifetimes. In part 07-??, we continue our tour through
+// Rust. Finally, in parts ??-??, we implement our own version of `grep`, exhibiting useful Rust
+// features as we go.
+// 
+// I suggest you get started with [the first part](part00.html), or jump directly to where you left off:
+// 
+// * [Part 00: Algebraic datatypes](part00.html)
+// * [Part 01: Expressions, Inherent methods](part01.html)
+// * [Part 02: Generic types, Traits](part02.html)
+// * [Part 03: Input](part03.html)
+// * [Part 04: Ownership, Borrowing](part04.html)
+// * [Part 05: Clone](part05.html) (WIP)
+// * [Part 06: Copy, Lifetimes](part06.html) (WIP)
+// * [Part 07: Operator Overloading, Tests, Output](part07.html) (WIP)
+// * (to be continued)
+#![allow(dead_code, unused_imports, unused_variables, unused_mut)]

 mod part00;
 mod part01;
 mod part00;
 mod part01;

+mod part02;
+mod part03;
+mod part04;
+mod part05;
+mod part06;
+mod part07;
+mod part08;
+mod part09;

 
 

-// To actually run the code after filling in the blanks, simply edit the `main`
-// function below.
+// To actually run the code of some part (after filling in the blanks, if necessary), simply edit the `main`
+// function.

 
 fn main() {
 
 fn main() {

-    part00::part_main();
+    part03::main();

 }
 }

+
+// Additional material
+// -------------------
+// 
+// There's tons of useful Rust stuff out there, so let me just put links to some
+// of the most interesting places here:
+// 
+// * [The Rust Book](https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/book/)
+// * [Rust by Example](http://rustbyexample.com/)
+// * The [Rust Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/)
+// * For the IRC channel and other forums, see the "Community" section of the [Rust Documentation index](http://doc.rust-lang.org/index.html)