First, thank you for picking up a copy of this book! Many of you will only have talked about the topic of algorithms and data structures back in university. In fact, regardless of whether this is your first endeavor in programming or not, we worked hard to make this book a great learning experience. Our primary focus will be the unique influence of Rust on algorithm and data structure design, so we would like to start with a recap of important fundamentals.
Starting off with the Rust 2018 edition changes, we will cover how borrowing and ownership, mutability, and concurrency influence how and where data can be held, and what algorithms can be executed. In this chapter, you can look forward to learning about the following:
- A quick refresh on Rust and what awaits in the 2018 edition (Rust 1.31)
- The latest and greatest about borrowing and ownership
- How we can leverage concurrency and mutability properly
- References (not pointers!) to where Rust lives