Rust for Systems Programming Training

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Go beyond safe Rust and learn to build systems-level software in this advanced 3-day training. Master unsafe Rust, foreign function interfaces, raw memory management, and OS-level programming. This course teaches you how to write the kind of software that Rust was originally designed for — operating system components, device drivers, embedded firmware, and performance-critical infrastructure.

Training Details

Duration	3 days (24 hours)
Level	Advanced
Delivery	In-person, Live online, Hybrid
Certification	N/A

Who Is This For?

• Experienced Rust developers moving into systems programming
• C/C++ developers adopting Rust for systems work
• Embedded engineers exploring Rust for firmware development
• Infrastructure engineers building low-level tooling
• Anyone building performance-critical system components

Learning Outcomes

After completing this training, participants will be able to:

• Write unsafe Rust code with proper safety invariants and documentation
• Build and consume C libraries through Rust’s FFI
• Implement custom memory allocators and manage raw memory
• Interact with operating system APIs for file I/O, networking, and process management
• Profile and optimize systems-level code for cache efficiency and minimal overhead
• Design safe abstractions over unsafe foundations

Detailed Agenda

Day 1: Unsafe Rust and Raw Memory

Module 1: Unsafe Rust Fundamentals

• The unsafe keyword and what it unlocks
• Five unsafe superpowers (raw pointers, unsafe functions, unsafe traits, mutable statics, union access)
• Safety invariants and documentation contracts
• Hands-on: Write and audit unsafe code blocks

Module 2: Raw Pointers and Memory Layout

• Raw pointer creation, dereferencing, and arithmetic
• std::ptr operations and null handling
• Memory layout with repr(C), repr(packed), repr(align)
• Hands-on: Implement a raw pointer-based data structure

Module 3: Custom Allocators

• The GlobalAlloc trait
• Writing a bump allocator
• Arena allocation patterns
• Hands-on: Implement and benchmark a custom allocator

Module 4: Inline Assembly and Compiler Intrinsics

• The asm! macro for inline assembly
• SIMD intrinsics with std::arch
• Compiler hints and optimization barriers
• Hands-on: Optimize a hot loop with SIMD

Day 2: FFI and Cross-Language Integration

Module 5: Calling C from Rust

• extern “C” functions and #[link] attributes
• bindgen for automatic header translation
• Handling C strings, arrays, and structs
• Hands-on: Wrap a C library (zlib) with safe Rust bindings

Module 6: Calling Rust from C

• Exposing Rust functions with #[no_mangle] and extern “C”
• cbindgen for generating C headers
• Memory ownership across the FFI boundary
• Hands-on: Build a Rust library callable from C

Module 7: Building Sys Crates

• The *-sys crate convention
• Build scripts (build.rs) for compiling C code
• pkg-config and cmake integration
• Hands-on: Create a complete sys crate with safe wrapper

Module 8: FFI with Other Languages

• Python bindings with PyO3
• Node.js bindings with napi-rs
• Shared memory and IPC patterns
• Hands-on: Build a Python extension module in Rust

Day 3: OS Interaction and Bare-Metal Programming

Module 9: Operating System Interfaces

• System calls and libc bindings
• File descriptors and I/O operations
• Process management (fork, exec, signals)
• Hands-on: Build a process supervisor

Module 10: Networking at the System Level

• Raw sockets and socket options
• Non-blocking I/O with epoll/kqueue
• Zero-copy networking patterns
• Hands-on: Implement a raw packet capture tool

Module 11: No-std and Embedded Rust

• Building without the standard library
• Core and alloc crates
• Embedded targets and cross-compilation
• Hands-on: Build a no_std library with custom panic handler

Module 12: Profiling and Optimization

• Perf, flamegraph, and cachegrind
• Memory profiling with DHAT and Valgrind
• Cache-friendly data structures
• Hands-on: Profile and optimize a systems application

Prerequisites

• Strong Rust experience (6+ months active development)
• Deep understanding of ownership, lifetimes, and unsafe concepts
• Familiarity with C programming and memory management
• Basic understanding of operating system concepts

Delivery Formats

Format	Description
In-Person	On-site at your company’s location, hands-on with direct interaction
Live Online	Interactive virtual sessions with screen sharing and real-time labs
Hybrid	Combination of on-site and remote sessions, flexible scheduling

All formats include hands-on labs, course materials, reference implementations, and post-training support.