Rust Hands-On EXamples (rust-hoex)

A personal, hands-on Rust tutorial. Progressive examples use cybersecurity-flavored scenarios (passwords, logs, threat scores, packet headers) so concepts stick while you learn the language.

Requires Rust 1.85+ (edition 2024).

First steps

# Install rustup
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source ~/.cargo/env

# Verify
rustc --version
cargo --version

# Useful components (usually installed already)
rustup component add clippy rustfmt rust-src

Optional: clone this repo, then run ./setup.sh and add source /path/to/rust-hoex/utils/aliases.sh to your shell rc.

Repository structure

rust-hoex/
├── Cargo.toml              # Workspace root
├── docs/                   # Learning guides
│   ├── 00-basics.md
│   ├── 01-fundamentals.md
│   ├── 02-intermediate.md
│   ├── 03-advanced.md
│   └── LEARNING_PATH.md
├── examples/               # Progressive tutorial (01–23)
├── exercises/              # One practice crate per example topic (01–23)
├── projects/               # Capstone work
│   └── cli-tools/          # seccheck password-auditing CLI
└── utils/
    ├── aliases.sh
    ├── check.sh
    └── creator.sh

Learning path

Follow docs/LEARNING_PATH.md. Suggested loop for each example: read its README → cargo run → cargo test → try the README exercises → next.

Examples (01–23)

#	Directory	Package	One-liner
01	01-helloWorld	example_helloworld	First program: println!, format!, lib vs bin
02	02-variables	example_variables	Variables, mutability, shadowing (crypto entropy theme)
03	03-dataTypes	example_datatypes	Scalar & compound types (packet headers)
04	04-functions	example_functions	Function syntax (network checksums)
05	05-controlFlow	example_controlflow	if/else, loops, match (threat-score classifier)
06	06-ownership	example_ownership	Moves, Clone, Copy, Drop (secure passwords)
07	07-borrowing	example_borrowing	References & borrowing without taking ownership
08	08-structs	example_structs	Structs & methods (user/credential models)
09	09-enums	example_enums	Enums & pattern matching (auth/network events)
10	10-modules	example_modules	Modules, visibility, re-exports
11	11-collections	example_collections	Vec, HashMap, HashSet (intrusion logs)
12	12-error-handling	example_errorhandling	Option, Result, ?, custom errors
13	13-generics	example_generics	Generics & trait bounds (SecureContainer)
14	14-traits	example_traits	Traits & static dispatch (ThreatScorer)
15	15-lifetimes	example_lifetimes	Lifetime annotations on fns and structs
16	16-testing	example_testing	Unit & integration tests (password policy)
17	17-iterators	example_iterators	Iterator adapters (log lines & IPs)
18	18-closures	example_closures	Closures for sorting/filtering threats
19	19-smart-pointers	example_smartpointers	Box, Rc, RefCell (rule trees & shared config)
20	20-concurrency	example_concurrency	Threads & mpsc (parallel log processing)
21	21-async	example_async	Async/await with Tokio (offline simulated fetches)
22	22-macros	example_macros	Declarative macros (say!, testvec!, …)
23	23-unsafe	example_unsafe	Minimal unsafe: raw pointers + safe wrappers

Exercises (01–23, one per example topic)

Each example has a matching exercise under the same directory name. Package names use the exercise_* prefix (e.g. exercises/03-dataTypes → exercise_datatypes).

#	Directory	Package	Focus
01	01-helloWorld	exercise_helloworld	println! / format!, banners, masking
02	02-variables	exercise_variables	Signed ints, overflow, conversions (physics)
03	03-dataTypes	exercise_datatypes	Packet header scalars & compounds
04	04-functions	exercise_functions	Checksums, seal/verify helpers
05	05-controlFlow	exercise_controlflow	Threat-score / log classifier
06	06-ownership	exercise_ownership	Moves, Clone, Copy, zeroize-before-drop
07	07-borrowing	exercise_borrowing	& / &mut, slices, policy scoring
08	08-structs	exercise_structs	UserAccount, Session, lockout
09	09-enums	exercise_enums	AuthStatus, NetworkEvent, HttpStatus
10	10-modules	exercise_modules	Multi-file analyzer, visibility
11	11-collections	exercise_collections	IntrusionLog: Vec / HashMap / HashSet
12	12-error-handling	exercise_errorhandling	ConfigError, ?, allow-listed paths
13	13-generics	exercise_generics	SecureContainer, find_min, Pair
14	14-traits	exercise_traits	ThreatScorer, default methods, bounds
15	15-lifetimes	exercise_lifetimes	shortest, borrowed excerpts
16	16-testing	exercise_testing	Password policy + unit/integration/#[ignore]
17	17-iterators	exercise_iterators	Log adapters: filter / map / sum
18	18-closures	exercise_closures	Sort, partition, capturing predicates
19	19-smart-pointers	exercise_smartpointers	Box rules, Rc/RefCell sharing
20	20-concurrency	exercise_concurrency	Threads + mpsc log workers
21	21-async	exercise_async	Tokio fetches, timeout, join
22	22-macros	exercise_macros	say!, testvec!, max_of!
23	23-unsafe	exercise_unsafe	Safe wrappers over raw pointers

• projects/cli-tools (project_cli_tools) — seccheck, a password-auditing CLI capstone

Guides: docs/00-basics.md → 01-fundamentals → 02-intermediate → 03-advanced

How to run

From an example directory:

cd examples/01-helloWorld
cargo run
cargo test

Or from the workspace root by package name:

cargo run -p example_helloworld
cargo test -p example_helloworld

Same pattern for any exercise (exercise_helloworld … exercise_unsafe) and the project (project_cli_tools).

Workspace commands

cargo test --workspace          # all tests
cargo build --workspace         # build everything
cargo check --workspace         # fast compile check
./utils/check.sh                # fmt + clippy (-D warnings) + tests + more

Creating new modules

./utils/creator.sh example 24-foo "Short description"
./utils/creator.sh exercise bar "Practice problem"
./utils/creator.sh project baz "Larger project"

Or after source utils/aliases.sh:

rust-example 24-foo "Short description"
rust-exercise bar "Practice problem"
rust-project baz "Larger project"
rust-check    # ./utils/check.sh
rust-test     # cargo test --workspace
rust-build
rust-fmt
rust-clippy

New scaffolds include a todo!() placeholder — replace it as you implement.

Resources

• The Rust Book
• Rust by Example
• Rustlings
• Rust Cookbook
• Cargo Book

License

MIT — see LICENSE.