Effective Rust: 35 Specific Ways to Improve Your Rust Code

by David Drysdale

Genres: Programming, Technology, Computer Science, Software

295 pages, Paperback

Published May 7, 2024

Reviews

[Bugzmanov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short read. The format of the book is modeled after classic "Effective Java" by J. Bloch: it assumes that you know rust and want to deepen your knowledge.
The book offers 35 loosely-connected (but not really) recipes. Out of 35 recipes only 20 are about rust the language, the rest is about ecosystem and tooling. Language part of the book is pretty good. Ecosystem part felt like a space filler at times.
Java is a smaller language than rust and yet "effective java" is a thicker book. You make your own conclusions what does this mean.
Not a bad read, but I would argue that "Rust for Rustaceans" does a better job at exploring advanced rust concepts.

[Ruslan Diachenko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coming from the Java world, and having read Effective Java by Joshua Bloch multiple times, I had high expectations for Effective Rust. The reality was a disappointment.

The high-level structure feels strange: Types, Traits, Concepts, Dependencies, Tooling, and Beyond Standard Rust. A lot of it isn't really about core Rust. Many items in the core sections are just descriptions of language features you can find in other books, often with clearer explanations and better examples.

While the book includes some best practices, there's too much filler around them. The focus often moves into tooling and ecosystem topics instead of sticking to core Rust and the clear, opinionated guidance that makes the "Effective" series worth rereading. In the end, it feels more like a broad overview than a focused guide to writing great Rust, so I don't see it becoming a permanent desk reference the way Effective Java is.

[Mochammad Hadyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, my brain deserved a rest after reading this book. The contents definitely not for beginners. Better to read the official Rust book first, then you can follow up with this one to have better and deep understanding.

To be honest, I expect the content will be self explained, however sometimes I confused how the examples and definitions are not connected and you need backtrack ti previous page to get better sense about the current one.

Despite all the drawbacks, I'm become more fascinated with how Rust can change the programming world in the future. Hopefully!

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good 2nd book in Rust. If you're just starting, read the "Rust Book" instead (https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/).

Clear and to-the-point. It was the right level for me after building some hobby projects in Rust but having not done substantial work professional work in it. Readt

Fully available for free online: https://www.lurklurk.org/effective-rust/

[Rohit Goswami · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very few of these are language features. Kind of a disappointment after the Scott Meyers book. A lot of these are about tooling or basic parts of Rust... Not a terrible read, but not really something I'd recommend.

[Sergey Shishkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent "second" book for those learning Rust.

[Tom M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written and full of knowledge tidbits, highly recommended to people who have been programing in Rust for a little while and want to improve their knowledge of the language further.