RustFest Zurich 2024

RustFest 2024 – A field report from ONLU

In June 2024, ONLU and its employees had the opportunity to participate in RustFest. The event spanned from June 19-24, with the main presentations taking place on Friday, June 19 and Saturday, June 20. The conference offered a wide range of exciting and informative topics covering both basic and advanced aspects of Rust development.

Talks at a glance

The presentations covered a wide range of topics:

– PSA: You too can pack structs

– When to (not) use typestate

– Switching from C++ to RUST

– How to build a Linux Kernel Module in Rust? A brief introduction

– Interactive Exploration of Nonlinear Ray Casting with Rust and wgpu

– Profile-Guided Optimization (PGO) in Rust: unknown parts

– Using Rust for Playing Soccer With Robots at RoboCup

– Developing a computer algebra system in Rust

– Miri: checking your unsafe code for Undefined Behavior

– High performance code and the cost of safe code

– Modern Game Development using the Bevy Engine

– Beyond Memory Safety

– Towards Zero-Copy Binary (De)Serialization: TypeScript < – > Rust

Catering and organization

The organization of the event was excellent. The day began with freshly brewed coffee and croissants, while lunch was vegan – thoughtful and enjoyable catering that provided participants with a worry-free experience.

Evaluation of the talks

The quality of the presentations varied from average to excellent. The following three presentations were particularly memorable for ONLU:

1. High performance code and the cost of safe code

2. Developing a computer algebra system in Rust

3. Modern Game Development using the Bevy Engine

Why these talks stood out:

Presentations 1 and 3 impressed with the impressive expertise of the speakers, who presented their topics with passion and in-depth knowledge. Lecture 2 was particularly impressive due to the clear vision of the speaker and his expertise in the development of cloud interactions.

Technical details of the presentations

1. high performance code and the cost of safe code

This talk was about optimization techniques with a focus on profile-driven optimization (PGO). The content explained how the compiler efficiently optimizes code and highlighted the advantages and limitations of PGO in Rust.

Further link: PGO in Rust

2. developing a computer algebra system in Rust

This talk introduced the Rust library Symbolica. The library is able to optimize mathematical expressions faster than standard solutions such as Mathematica or Sympy. Particularly noteworthy was the demonstration of how Symbolica can be seamlessly integrated into Python applications.

Further links: Symbolica Website & Crate on crates.io

3. modern game development using the Bevy Engine

This talk presented the concept of the Entity Component System (ECS), which serves as a framework for game development. Despite some development areas that still need to be matured in Bevy – such as 3D rendering and UI dialogs – the presentation showed the impressive possibilities of modern game development with this engine.

Further link: Bevy Engine Quick Start

Conclusion

For ONLU and the entire team, RustFest 2024 was an inspiring and enriching experience. The event not only provided in-depth expertise, but also an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas with other participants. Special thanks to the organizers and everyone involved for making this conference a success.

ONLU is looking forward to participating in similar events in the future and incorporating what it has learned into future projects.

The following link will take you directly to the registration form for the next conference:

Click here to register

Make sure you secure your place in time to experience exciting presentations, new impulses and an inspiring exchange with the Rust community!