Previously I made web application prototypes using the Rust-based front-end frameworks Sycamore and Yew. With the recent release of Dioxus version 0.4, I updated my Dioxus Prototype. It demonstrates capabilities such as animation, form inputs, and static prerendering.
Friday, October 20, 2023
Dioxus Prototype
Saturday, September 23, 2023
Rust-Dioxus Project Setup
Previously I used Angular to make Single Page Application (SPA) websites in the TypeScript programming language. I then used the Angular tool Scully to statically prerender the SPA webpages for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and to be able to distribute the website code from a Content Delivery Network (CDN) instead of a web server. When I switched over to the Rust programming language last year, I needed to learn new ways of doing things.
After a lengthy quest in which I explored a number of nascent Rust-based SPA libraries, I have finally figured out how to make this work which I have documented with step-by-step instructions in my new tutorial Rust-Dioxus Project Setup. A few months ago I became the Organizer of the Dallas Rust User Meetup (DRUM) so I have created a website for that group that provides an online example of the techniques described in the tutorial. I will be updating the tutorial over the next few months as my understanding of Dioxus improves in the process of converting my old websites.
Monday, August 28, 2023
Rust Podcast Duos
I updated my list of Rust Podcasts with two new entries:
I have listened to all eleven episodes so far of "Way of the Crab" and just started "Rust Workshop". Both of these podcasts feature a co-host duo but each podcast has its own distinct personality.
Sunday, July 23, 2023
Rust Mars
I am currently working on converting to the Rust programming language yet another Java applet that I originally wrote a couple of decades ago. Mars is a tank combat game which provides a demonstration of the use of my Rust-based implementation of the A* algorithm. Although you cannot control one of the tanks yet, you can toggle on options to visualize how each tank is using the A* algorithm for pathfinding.
I was struggling with a memory leak in Mars until a member of the Dallas Rust Meetup mentioned that the wee_alloc dependency that I was using for memory allocation with WebAssembly (Wasm) was known to have this issue. I removed wee_alloc and the problem immediately disappeared. I have since updated my Rust-webpack Project Setup tutorial to no longer include wee_alloc in the setup instructions.
Monday, June 12, 2023
Beginning Rust
Tonight I finished reading Beginning Rust: Get Started with Rust 2021 Edition (2e) by Carlo Milanesi. I found some detailed explanations for difficult concepts in this book that I had not come across elsewhere including The Rust Book. I also appreciated that the book teaches the formal terminology for the various language features.
I started reading "Beginning Rust" in parallel with another Rust book for beginners by a different author. Whereas the other book teaches Rust to the reader by guiding them through example applications, this book focuses strictly on the language as demonstrated with code snippets. I think the latter approach permitted the author of "Beginning Rust" to do a better job of putting the topics in prerequisite order.
Before "Beginning Rust", I also finished reading Rust for Rustaceans but I will have to read that one again in a year or two before I can review it properly as it was too advanced for me. I think "Beginning Rust" is a better immediate follow-on to "The Rust Book". I might look at Rust Atomics and Locks by Mara Bos next.
Saturday, January 14, 2023
Rust Life
I implemented Conway's Game of Life in the Rust programming language and compiled it to WebAssembly (Wasm) so that it runs in a webpage. I initialized the project directory using the steps from Rust-webpack Project Setup checklist and re-used code from my animated interactive Evolve simulation.
Monday, January 02, 2023
Rust-webpack Project Setup
As part of capturing my lessons learned from converting CroftSoft Evolve from a Java applet to a Rust-WebAssembly application, I started writing a Rust-webpack Project Setup tutorial checklist. There is enough there now to get the "Hello, World!" example code running that I created for my now obsolete rust-webpack-template tutorial.
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Rust Evolve
Two decades ago, I wrote the book Advanced Java Game Programming which taught readers how to make animated 2D games that would run in a webpage. Now I am learning how to do that using Rust and WebAssembly. Evolve is an animated interactive evolutionary algorithm simulation that you can play with that I recently converted from Java to Rust. The code is available from my open source repository.
Thursday, November 24, 2022
Using the rust-webpack-template
Using the rust-webpack-template is a checklist that I made for setting up projects that use Rust and WebAssembly instead of JavaScript to dynamically create webpage content. Since rust-webpack-template has not been updated for a few years, the checklist includes steps for dealing with outdated dependencies. It also includes starter code and an extensive list of related links.