Rust for Java Developers

Learn Rust without unlearning what you already know.

You've mastered Java. You understand design patterns, concurrent systems, cloud infrastructure, and the discipline required to build reliable software at scale. But Rust operates on different principles—and learning it shouldn't require you to throw away your expertise.

This comprehensive guide teaches Rust through the lens of a Java developer. Every concept is explained by direct comparison: how does Rust's ownership system compare to Java's garbage collection? What's the difference between Rust traits and Java interfaces? Why does Rust prevent data races at compile time when Java requires runtime synchronization?

What You'll Learn:

Part 1: Fundamentals

• Set up your Rust environment and understand the toolchain
• Master immutability-by-default vs. Java's mutable-by-default approach
• Understand Rust's ownership system—the innovation that eliminates entire classes of bugs
• Learn borrowing and references: how to safely share data without transferring ownership
• Harness pattern matching with exhaustiveness checking for safer control flow

Part 2: The Type System

• Discriminated unions with Rust enums (and why they're more powerful than Java's)
• Option<T> and Result<T, E>: type-safe alternatives to null and exceptions
• Error handling without try-catch: the ? operator and result propagation
• Custom error types and when to use them

Part 3: Advanced Concepts

• Traits: beyond Java interfaces—static dispatch, dynamic dispatch, and zero-cost abstractions
• Generics with monomorphization: why Rust generates specialized code for each type
• Lifetimes: Rust's compiler-verified guarantees that references never outlive their data
• Concurrency patterns: Mutex, Arc, channels—race conditions prevented at compile time

Part 4: Practical Patterns

• Functional programming in Rust: closures, iterators, and map/filter/fold operations
• Build a real HTTP server: threading, error handling, and Rust in production
• Translate common Java patterns to idiomatic Rust
• Avoid common pitfalls when transitioning from Java