Rust is a systems programming language that prioritizes speed, memory safety, and concurrency.
It’s renowned for its ability to create reliable and efficient software, making it a valuable skill for developers in various domains, such as game development, operating systems, and web assembly.
By learning Rust, you can expand your programming capabilities and contribute to building high-performance and robust applications.
However, finding the right course to learn Rust can be a daunting task.
The sheer number of options available online can make it challenging to determine which course best suits your learning style and goals.
You’re searching for a course that provides a comprehensive curriculum, engaging instruction, and hands-on practice to solidify your understanding of Rust’s concepts.
Based on our careful evaluation, the Rust Programming Specialization on Coursera stands out as the best overall course for learning Rust.
Offered by Duke University, this specialization covers a wide range of Rust programming concepts, from the fundamentals to advanced topics like data engineering and DevOps.
Its structured approach, combined with hands-on projects, makes it an excellent choice for beginners and experienced programmers alike.
But don’t stop here!
We’ve explored various other Rust courses that might better align with your specific needs and preferences.
Continue reading to discover a curated selection of courses tailored to different learning styles and areas of focus within the Rust ecosystem.
Rust Programming Specialization
Provider: Coursera
The “Rust Programming Specialization” on Coursera, offered by Duke University, is a great way to learn the Rust programming language, whether you are a beginner or have some programming experience.
The specialization starts with “Rust Fundamentals” where you learn the basics of writing safe and efficient code.
You explore core concepts like ownership, borrowing, and lifetimes, which make Rust unique.
You also get to use tools like Cargo and Rust Analyzer to build and test your code.
“Data Engineering with Rust” is the next step, teaching you how to use Rust for working with data.
You dive into data structures and collections and learn how to use libraries like Diesel, async, Polars, and Apache Arrow.
These tools help you build systems that can handle large amounts of information.
You can also take “Rust for DevOps” to learn how to use Rust for DevOps tasks.
This course teaches you how to deploy and run applications using tools like Docker.
You also learn how to monitor your applications using frameworks like ELK and Prometheus and automate common tasks.
“Python and Rust with Linux Command Line Tools” shows you how to combine Rust and Python to build powerful tools for your computer.
You discover how to automate tasks and manage your system more efficiently.
If you are interested in AI, the “Rust for Large Language Model Operations (LLMOps)” course is a great choice.
You learn how to build and deploy large language models using Rust and frameworks like HuggingFace Transformers.
This specialization gives you a strong foundation in Rust programming and the skills to work on different types of projects, from data engineering to AI.
Ultimate Rust Crash Course
Provider: Udemy
This Rust programming course takes you from the basics to creating a complete game.
You quickly learn about variables, functions, modules, and simple data types like numbers and characters.
The course explains how these elements work together to create a strong foundation for building more complex programs.
You master Rust’s ownership system, a unique feature ensuring your programs run smoothly and without memory errors.
This understanding becomes crucial as you learn to use references and borrowing to manipulate data efficiently.
The course then equips you with powerful tools like structs, traits, and collections, enabling you to write organized and advanced code.
The “Invaders” game project puts your newly acquired Rust skills to the test.
This project guides you through setting up audio, responding to player input, and creating graphics.
You even learn how to use multithreading, making the game run more smoothly.
By building “Invaders” from scratch, you solidify your understanding of Rust programming and gain practical experience in building a real-world application.
Learn Rust by Building Real Applications
Provider: Udemy
This course teaches you Rust by building real applications.
You start with the basics of Rust, including its memory management system.
You learn about the stack and the heap and how Rust uses smart pointers to manage memory effectively.
You also discover Cargo, Rust’s build system, and GDB, a powerful debugger.
You then build a command-line application, learning about fundamental data types, functions, macros, and the standard library.
You gain a solid understanding of Rust’s ownership system, using references and borrowing, and you’ll explore these concepts in GDB to see how they prevent memory errors.
The course then challenges you to build an HTTP server from scratch.
This project delves into advanced Rust concepts like structs, enums, strings, and modules.
You learn how to manage TCP connections, handle errors effectively with the Result
enum, and work with the Option
enum for situations where a value might be missing.
You use the match
expression for powerful pattern matching and learn how to write safe and efficient code with Rust’s lifetimes feature.
The Rust Programming Language
Provider: Udemy
This Rust programming course begins with the fundamentals.
You’ll learn how to install Rust, set up your development environment using IntelliJ IDEA or CLion, and write your first “Hello, World!” program.
The course introduces you to Cargo, Rust’s powerful package manager, which you’ll use to manage your projects.
You’ll master core data types like booleans, integers, floats, and characters, and discover how to work with operators, scope, and shadowing.
The course also covers how to debug Rust applications directly within CLion, a critical skill for any developer.
You’ll then dive into the world of control flow, using if
, while
, loop
, and for
statements to dictate the logic of your code.
The course covers Rust’s unique match
statement, a powerful tool for pattern matching.
You’ll learn about structs, enums, and unions, enabling you to organize and represent your data effectively.
The course then introduces you to arrays, slices, tuples, and the Option
type for handling cases where a value might be missing.
You’ll gain practical experience by building a number-guessing game, solidifying your understanding of these core concepts.
Building upon these foundations, you’ll explore functions, methods, and closures in Rust, mastering the art of code organization and reusability.
The course explains traits, a powerful feature that allows you to define shared behavior for different types.
You’ll learn how to use generics to write flexible and reusable code.
You’ll also delve into Rust’s memory management system, including ownership, borrowing, and lifetimes, which ensures memory safety without the need for garbage collection.
The course explains how to use reference-counted variables (Rc
and Arc
) for shared ownership and mutexes for safe concurrent access to data.
Ultimate Rust 2: Intermediate Concepts
Provider: Udemy
This course equips you with the skills to transition from a Rust novice to a proficient developer.
You will master core Rust concepts such as closures, iterators, and traits, gaining the ability to write more efficient and idiomatic Rust code.
You will utilize tools like cargo doc
, rustfmt
, and clippy
to ensure your code is clean, well-documented, and adheres to best practices.
You will even learn how to publish your own crate to crates.io
, showcasing your work to the Rust community.
You will delve into advanced concepts like error handling with thiserror
and anyhow
, ensuring your programs are robust and reliable.
You will learn how to write comprehensive unit tests, integration tests, and even benchmarks using the Criterion
crate, giving you the confidence that your code performs as expected.
The course doesn’t shy away from concurrency either.
You will explore multithreading and learn how to use channels with the crossbeam
crate for safe and efficient communication between threads.
This course culminates in a hands-on project where you will build a game prototype using the Rusty Engine
package.
This project provides practical experience, allowing you to apply your newly acquired skills to build a real-world application.
You will learn how to manage game state, handle sprites and collisions, process keyboard and mouse input, incorporate text and audio, and even utilize timers.
Through this project, you will solidify your understanding of the course material and gain the confidence to tackle your own ambitious Rust projects.
Rust Programming For Beginners
Provider: Udemy
This Rust programming course takes you on a journey from the very basics to building real-world applications.
You start by learning fundamental concepts like data types, variables, functions, and control flow using Visual Studio Code.
You learn how to use different data types like integers and booleans, create variables to store these data types, and write functions that perform specific tasks.
You also learn how to control the flow of your code using conditional statements and loops.
You then move on to more complex ideas such as data structures like vectors and HashMaps, and how to work with strings.
The course teaches you about Rust’s ownership system and how it helps to manage memory safely and prevent common errors.
You will get hands-on experience through coding exercises where you can apply what you’ve learned about these concepts.
As you progress, you delve into more advanced areas like error handling with the Result
type and working with external crates (packages of pre-written code).
You discover powerful features like iterators, traits, and how to write automated tests for your code.
You will even get to implement custom error types and explore advanced memory management techniques.
The course culminates in practical real-world projects like building a menu-driven billing application and a personal contacts manager.
Rust Programming Course: From Beginner to Expert 2.0
Provider: Udemy
This Udemy course teaches you how to write Rust code like a pro, even if you’re just starting out.
You begin by setting up your computer to write and run Rust code using VS Code.
The course then takes you step-by-step through the basics of Rust, including how to work with data, use functions, and make decisions in your code with conditionals and control flow.
You even learn about Rust’s special way of managing memory using a system called ownership, which helps prevent errors.
Once you have a good understanding of the basics, you move on to more challenging concepts like generics and traits.
These tools let you write code that’s flexible and can be reused in different parts of your program.
The course also covers functional programming which helps you write more efficient and organized code, and memory management techniques to make your programs run faster and use less memory.
You then learn how to build important data structures like linked lists using Rust, which are essential for storing and organizing data.
You also discover how to use macros, which are like shortcuts for writing code.
The course challenges you to apply your knowledge by solving real-world problems, like creating a system to track the most popular products or finding an employee who is available for a meeting.
Finally, you dive into concurrency, learning how to write programs that can do multiple things at the same time, which is important for making apps that are fast and responsive.
The Complete Rust Programming Course
Provider: Udemy
This Rust course equips you with the skills to build high-quality software.
You grasp the basics like installing Rust, working with variables and data types, and using functions.
The curriculum then immerses you in Rust’s core principles: Ownership, Borrowing, and Lifetimes.
You master Structs, Enums, and Pattern Matching, building a strong foundation for organizing data and crafting custom types.
You learn to write clean and efficient code with Traits and Generics, ensuring reusability across diverse data types.
Error handling becomes second nature as you learn to use the Result
type and prevent program crashes.
Cargo, Rust’s package manager, becomes your ally in creating, managing, and testing robust projects.
This course empowers you with the ability to build sophisticated applications.
You explore Vectors, Maps, and Sets for efficient data storage and retrieval.
You delve into concurrency, enabling your programs to effortlessly handle multiple tasks at once.
You even discover the power of Asynchronous Rust, writing responsive programs that never keep the user waiting.
Beyond the fundamentals, this course delves into powerful features like Macros and Unsafe Code.
You explore the fascinating world of Webassembly, enabling you to run Rust code directly in web browsers.
Finally, you embark on a journey through algorithms and data structures, mastering techniques for sorting, searching, and manipulating data with unparalleled efficiency.
Rust lang: The complete beginner’s guide
Provider: Udemy
This Rust programming course begins with setting up your development environment.
You will learn how to install Rust and use Cargo, its package manager.
These tools are crucial for managing your Rust projects.
The course then introduces you to fundamental programming concepts within the context of Rust, such as using variables, different data types, and how to work with strings.
You will also grasp the concept of constants, learn to perform operations using operators, and understand how functions work in Rust.
You then delve deeper, exploring modules and crates.
Modules help organize your code into logical units, while crates are collections of reusable Rust code.
You will learn about arrays, vectors, slices, tuples, and structures - key data structures for organizing and managing data in your programs.
You will also understand enums and generics, powerful tools for writing flexible and reusable code.
The course guides you through Rust’s control flow mechanisms, such as the ‘if’ statement, the ‘match’ expression for pattern matching, and loops for repetitive tasks.
You learn about functions in-depth, including closures, higher-order functions, and macros.
You will master error handling, a critical aspect of building robust applications.
You will understand Rust’s unique approach to memory management, including ownership, borrowing, and lifetimes, which help prevent common errors and ensure memory safety.
Finally, you will put your knowledge into practice by building three hands-on projects.
You will develop a client-server chat application, giving you experience with network programming.
You will then create a Snake game, applying your knowledge to game development.
Lastly, you will build a basic blockchain, diving into the world of distributed systems.
Rust: Building Reusable Code with Rust from Scratch
Provider: Udemy
This Udemy course dives deep into Rust programming, teaching you how to build code you can use again and again.
You’ll begin with the building blocks like bindings and data types, and how to use the Rust Standard Library, a collection of pre-built code.
To manage your Rust projects, you’ll master Cargo, a powerful tool for handling dependencies and building your projects.
Next, you’ll tackle Rust’s ownership system, a unique feature that guarantees memory safety and prevents errors.
You’ll understand how borrowing works, and how the borrow checker acts like a strict but helpful guardian, ensuring your code is always safe and efficient.
You’ll learn about Rust’s data structures like strings, vectors, and slices, and how to structure your data with structs and enums.
This course then introduces you to powerful techniques like traits, which let you define shared behavior for different data types.
You’ll discover the flexibility of generics, enabling you to write code that works with a variety of types.
You’ll explore closures, iterators, and techniques like map, filter, and fold, which allow you to write more concise and efficient code.
Finally, you’ll learn about error handling, a crucial part of writing robust applications, and how to design easy-to-use APIs, making your code accessible to others.
Rust & WebAssembly with JS (TS) - The Practical Guide
Provider: Udemy
This Udemy course teaches you how to build web applications, even a simple game, using Rust and WebAssembly.
You begin by learning how to set up your Rust environment, a crucial first step to writing Rust code.
You master basic concepts like variables, data types, and functions, gaining a strong foundation in the fundamentals of the language.
The course then dives into advanced features like ownership and borrowing, crucial for writing safe and efficient Rust code.
Next, you transition to WebAssembly and discover how to compile your Rust code into a format that runs smoothly in web browsers.
You learn to integrate this compiled code with JavaScript and Typescript, creating interactive experiences for your users.
The course utilizes tools like wasm-pack
to streamline the process of packaging and preparing your code for the web.
The course guides you through building a Snake game to cement your understanding.
You will learn how to create a game world, draw the snake and other elements on the canvas, and program the snake’s movements based on user input.
You’ll utilize your JavaScript and TypeScript knowledge to handle user interactions and game logic, including elements like rewards and game status updates.
Finally, you explore how to deploy your finished game to a production server.
You will get familiar with setting up a web server and learn techniques to package your game into a production-ready format.
Also check our posts on the best Rust courses on Coursera and the best Rust courses on Udemy.