Getting Started With #100DaysOfCode

Knowing yourself and your shortcomings is important when it comes to attempting anything in life. That is why when starting off learning Rust I chose to jump straight into a project rather than reading through the Rust book, as I would either stop and get distracted or fail to code entirely for the day. My method instead was to think of a simple project and then try to make it.

Today I chose to make a CLI tool that performs simple math calculations. This project would help me understand how to retrieve and convert user input and do simple input handling and math using Rust.

Overall it went well, but took way longer than I had planned to get a minimum viable product, as had to learn how to do quite a few things in the Rust way. Match statements were by far the most useful thing I discovered today, and are wonderful to use. Understanding Result on the other hand stumped me for the better half of the hour it felt like. I chose to only implement four operations for now as I wanted to get something functional out for others to give feedback on as my primary focus.

I think planning out how I was going to have the code function was the right choice even though I was not as verbose in the pseudocode compared to what I wrote in my Java programming class. As for what I could have done better: Getting a silent area to work away from others. I was often asked questions related to tech issues (as is the bane and blessing of any computer scientist when coming home to family). I had to review what I was doing more than writing code for a portion of the hour, and that likely decreased the amount of work I could have finished. You win some and you loose some sometimes and I am glad to have gotten something done regardless.

Future work for this program will include implementing algebraic equations, and if I feel the drive to create a system do do so, I can create a breakdown for each math function and how you arrive at the answer for users who are using the program as a learning tool.

If you are interested in viewing the code for today, feel free to check it out here.

If you have any questions or suggestions for future projects during my 100DaysOfCode, please reach out using one of the options below!