#prog #rust #article

Safely writing code that isn't thread-safe

One of the nice things about the Rust programming language is that it makes it easier to write correct concurrent (e.g. threaded) programs – to the degree that Rust’s slogan has been, at times, “fearless concurrency.”

But I’d like to tell you about the other side of Rust, which I think is under-appreciated. Rust enables you to write programs that are not concurrent. This feature is missing from most other languages, and is a source of much complexity and bugs.

“But wait,” you might be saying, “of course I can write code that isn’t concurrent in Java or Python or C!”

Can you, though? You can certainly write code that ignores concurrency, and would malfunction if (say) used from multiple threads simultaneously. But that’s not the same thing as writing code that isn’t concurrent – code that simply can’t be used concurrently, by compiler guarantee.

In Rust, you can. Let’s look at why you can do it, and why it’s awesome.

# cargo-deny

For those of you that may not be aware yet: cargo-deny has built-in support for detecting multiple versions of the same dependency. And it also can ban specific dependencies, discover vulnerabilities, do a license checkup, etc. It even has a ready Github Action, so please consider using it.

# JetBrains Survey: How Rust and C/C++ Ecosystems Coexist?

Hi, folks! Please participate in our short survey:

https://jb.gg/rust_cpp

> We’d like to learn from Rust developers about their experience and best practices with C and C++ code in their Rust code base. Share your experience with us via the survey and get a chance to win a prize!

# Sleep Timer

I've only recently discovered for myself "sleep timer" apps. Now I can drown out all the anxious thoughts before sleep with an audiobook or a long YouTube video without the need to tediously search the place I fell asleep the next day, amazing! 😴

Settled with https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.pboos.android.SleepTimer for now since it works with all the players I use and has the shake-to-wake function, so you can just shake the phone if you haven't fallen asleep quite yet - much better UX than trying to unlock the phone in the dark.

# /r/rust: "Is Crypto No Longer Leading Industry for Rust?

tldr: kinda yes and it's great

https://reddit.com/r/rust/comments/zb0bw7/crypto_no_longer_the_leading_industry_for_rust

Not sure about the "leading industry" phrasing but cryptocurrency/bc-related jobs used to totally dominate the rusty job offerings and it was a common source of complaints. Glad to see that the trend is changing.

# Rustacean Station Podcast: Presser with Gray Olson

https://rustacean-station.org/episode/gray-olson

> Allen Wyma talks with Gray Olson, developer of Presser, a library that aims to make it easier to safely work with byte buffers.

- 00:00 - Gray’s background and introduction
- 04:18 - Gray’s art and graphic designing work for Embark Studio
- 08:40 - Ray tracing and fractals
- 13:44 - The most expensive process in a video game
- 16:48 - Vector graphics are so hard on the GPU
- 18:57 - What makes triangles very useful in drawing and designing
- 22:41 - Matrix math as a fundamental building block of computer graphics
- 28:13 - Understanding the concept of uninitialized memory and why Presser is necessary
- 36:31 - LLVM’s “No Uninitialized Memory” attribute.
- 39:06 - Rust’s virtual machine
- 40:52 - Allocating memory for data
- 49:34 - Safety invariants and validity invariants in the Rust ecosystem
- 53:19 - How to use unsafe code in a way that does not violate the validity invariant of Rust
- 1:04:01 - Embark Studio’s mission to enable those who play games to also modify the game worlds they play in
- 1:07:27 - Embark Studio’s Rust game projects
- 1:09:08 - Parting thoughts

# Update on JetBrains’ Statement on Ukraine

https://blog.jetbrains.com/blog/2022/12/06/update-on-jetbrains-statement-on-ukraine (followup on the March statement)

TLDR: All sales and R&D activities in Russia & Belarus stopped, all offices in Russia shut down, and liquidation papers for the Russian legal entity filed. The majority (800+) of Russian employees were relocated to Germany/Netherlands/Armenia/Serbia/Cyprus with families&pets, others decided to part ways with the company.

# Dwarf Fortress: Steam and Itch Release! ⛏

STRIKE THE EARTH! The legendary Dwarf Fortress - the deepest, most intricate simulation of a world that has ever been created - is out now on Steam & Itch with overhauled visuals and loads of accessibility improvements:

- https://store.steampowered.com/app/975370/Dwarf_Fortress
- https://kitfoxgames.itch.io/dwarf-fortress

# What Every Rust Dev Should Know About Macro Support in IDEs

https://blog.jetbrains.com/rust/2022/12/05/what-every-rust-developer-should-know-about-macro-support-in-ides

Following the recent partial stabilization of proc-macro support in IntelliJ-Rust, Vitaly wrote a great blog post (with a veery clickbait title :D) about IDE-centric view on proc-macro expansion and what proc-macros' authors can do to improve interactive editing experience for their users (mostly relevant for complex DSLs). The post is obviously biased towards ijrust but RA mostly works with proc-macros in similar ways.

/r/rust discussion

# Tiny Glade 🏰🌿

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2198150/Tiny_Glade

Tiny Glade (pka Tiny Building Game) - a small relaxing game about doodling castles and petting sheep - finally got a Steam page!

> Let yourself unwind in this cozy building game. No management, no combat, no wrong answers. Just kick back, doodle some castles, and turn forgotten meadows into lovable dioramas!

Happy to see yet another rusty game getting to Steam:

> Tiny Glade is written in Rust :) We use a few crates from Bevy -- primarily the ECS. Then we build our own rendering, audio and gameplay on top. We're fans of Bevy, but have very specific needs, which drives to implement bespoke solutions.

The game is being developed by a small indie studio - https://pouncelight.games - started by a couple of ex-Embark-ers (@anastasiaopara and @h3r2tic).

Wishlist the game on Steam and subscribe to their newsletter to support the project!

# Rust 1.66.0

Highlights:

- Explicit discriminants on enums with fields
- core::hint::black_box
- cargo remove
- ..=X ranges in patterns

https://blog.rust-lang.org/2022/12/15/Rust-1.66.0

/r/rust discussion

# IntelliJ Rust Updates Summary for 2022.3 Release Cycle

- Function-like and derive macros are expanded by default
- Build script evaluation by default
- Better support for intra-doc links
- let_chains
- Preview for intentions and quick-fixes
- Improved completion and auto-importing for proc-macro
- Gutter runners for doc tests
- Improved debugger pretty-printers
- and more:

https://blog.jetbrains.com/rust/2022/12/16/intellij-rust-updates-for-2022-3

/r/rust discussion