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TRACK 03

RUST SYSTEMS
ENGINEER

Build the kernel, the runtime, and the tooling that everything else runs on top of.

01

UNSAFE & FFI

Writing correct unsafe code. Calling C libraries from Rust and exposing Rust APIs to C. Raw pointers, transmute, and invariants.

unsafeFFIbindgen
book

The Rustonomicon — full book

The definitive guide to unsafe Rust. Covers raw pointers, FFI, atomics, and the rules for writing safe abstractions over unsafe code.

doc.rust-lang.org/nomicon/
repo

bindgen — automatic Rust FFI bindings to C

Generates Rust bindings from C/C++ headers automatically. Essential for integrating any C library into Rust.

github.com/rust-lang/rust-bindgen
book

Bindgen User Guide

Step-by-step guide to generating and using FFI bindings. Covers annotations, allowlists, and opaque types.

rust-lang.github.io/rust-bindgen/
02

OS PRIMITIVES

Threads, processes, signals, memory-mapped files. Building system utilities that interact directly with the kernel via syscalls.

nixlibcsyscalls
repo

nix — Rust friendly bindings to *nix APIs

Safe, idiomatic Rust bindings to Unix system calls: fork, exec, signals, file descriptors, sockets, and more.

github.com/nix-rust/nix
book

Linux man pages — syscall reference

Primary reference for every Linux system call. Pair with nix crate docs to understand the Rust-safe wrappers.

man7.org/linux/man-pages/
book

Writing an OS in Rust (Philipp Oppermann)

Build a minimal OS kernel from scratch in Rust: VGA buffer, CPU exceptions, paging, heap allocation, async/await. The best deep systems project.

os.phil-opp.com
03

PERFORMANCE & PROFILING

Flamegraphs, perf, and criterion benchmarks. SIMD intrinsics and cache-aware data structures for maximum throughput.

flamegraphSIMDcriterion
repo

cargo-flamegraph

Profile any Rust binary with one command and visualise the call graph as an SVG flamegraph. Essential for finding performance bottlenecks.

github.com/flamegraph-rs/flamegraph
book

Criterion.rs — benchmarking guide

Statistical micro-benchmarking for Rust. Measures and tracks performance regressions with confidence intervals.

bheisler.github.io/criterion.rs/book/
book

Rust Performance Book

Practical guide covering profiling, SIMD, memory layout, inlining, and avoiding common performance pitfalls in Rust.

nnethercote.github.io/perf-book/

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