Advanced Ownership in Rust

Here, we'll dive into the world of advanced ownership in Rust. You've already learned about Rust's ownership system in the previous books. Still, now it's time to explore more complex scenarios and understand how to wield ownership for even more powerful programming.

Unsafe in Rust

We have been writing memory-safe code all along that satisfies the Rust compiler. Unsafe Rust code does not bypass the borrow checker or disable the compiler. Instead, it gives access to several features:

• Dereferencing a raw pointer

• Calling a function or method unsafe

• Accessing or modifying a mutable static variable

• Implementing a trait unsafe

• Accessing fields of unions

It doesn’t mean that the code in the unsafe block is neither safe nor dangerous. It simply means that the responsibility for ensuring safety shifts from the compiler to the programmer. Unsafe Rust allows you to perform operations that the compiler cannot verify for safety at compile-time, but it still enforces certain rules and checks to minimize potential issues.

Let's delve into some of the key use cases of unsafe Rust and understand when it might be necessary:

Smart pointers in Rust

In static languages, a pointer is a variable that stores an address in memory. We have seen and used the most common type of pointers in Rust: the reference. Smart pointers are another kind of pointers in Rust. The difference between references and smart pointers is that they own the data they point to, while references only borrow the data. The String and Vec<T> types are smart pointers.

Smart pointers are usually implemented using structs, automatically implementing the Deref and Drop traits. We will see the following smart pointers: Box, Rc, Ref, and Arc. Let’s get started.

Advanced Design Patterns in Rust

In advanced Rust programming, mastering design patterns opens doors to elegant and efficient solutions. These patterns empower you to structure your code to enhance readability, maintainability, and extensibility. Let's explore some of the advanced design patterns you'll encounter in this book:

Meta-programming with Macros in Rust

Have you ever heard of automatic code generation? Or code that writes code? Well, in Rust, macros are a way to write code that writes code. They enable you to generate repetitive or boilerplate code automatically. In this section, we will explore the fundamentals of macros, learn how to get started writing custom macros if needed, and dive into procedural macros for more advanced use cases.

FFI and Interoperability in Rust

Foreign Function Interface (FFI) is a crucial aspect of Rust that allows seamless integration with code written in other programming languages, particularly C and C++. This section will explore Foreign Function Interface (FFI) and Interoperability in detail.

Performance and Optimization in Rust

Profiling and benchmarking are essential steps in optimizing Rust code for better performance. Profiling helps you identify which parts of your code consume the most time, while benchmarking helps you compare different implementations to choose the most efficient one. This section will explore performance and optimization in Rust.

Milestone project: Web Server in Rust

Now that you have completed the "Advanced Rust" book, a great final milestone project could be building a web server using Rust.

This project would combine many advanced concepts you've learned throughout the book, including concurrency, error handling, macros, and more.

Exercise to improve your Rust skills

Build a high-performance, multi-threaded web server in Rust capable of handling incoming HTTP requests concurrently. Get more details below.