Logistics:

Credits:	2
Meetings:	Fridays, 2:00pm to 3:00pm
Meeting Room:	AC-04-LR-002
Office Hours:	TBD

Links:

Resources and Reading Materials

Project Summaries

Feedback, Appraisals, and Reflection

A Limerick

Course Description: Rust is a systems programming language that combines low-level control with high-level safety. It excels in performance and concurrency while preventing common errors like null pointer dereferencing and buffer overflows. With its growing adoption in AI, web development, and systems programming, Rust offers a modern solution to age-old programming challenges. The independent study module offers participants an opportunity to acquire Rust proficiency through engagement with real-world applications of Rust programming. Students will select from three project categories: translating existing code into Rust, contributing a new feature to an open-source Rust project, or resolving an issue within an open-source Rust codebase. Through these projects, students will develop competence in fundamental Rust concepts.

Prerequisites: Prerequisites for this course include a strong foundation in at least one programming language. While prior experience with Rust is not mandatory, participants should either possess a basic familiarity with Rust concepts or be prepared to engage in concurrent self-study alongside the course.

Course Project: As described above, students will select from three project categories: translating existing code into Rust, contributing a new feature to an open-source Rust project, or resolving an issue within an open-source Rust codebase. Their project will determine the learning trajectory for the course. The project topic must be approved by the instructor. The project can be completed individually or in groups of up to 3 members. A project proposal is due by September 9. The final submission is due on November 21 and consists of three components: a short write-up, codebase, and a poster. The codebase should be available on Github as a public repository with appropriate documentation and commit history. The poster should visually summarize the project, including the key problem statement, main steps of the approach, significant results, and relevant visual aids. Find some guidelines and a sample here. The meeting on November 28 will be used for project presentations. The project will be evaluated based on the originality and relevance of the chosen problem, code quality, functionality, Rust-specific concepts utilization, and adherence to open-source contribution standards.

Grading: The grades for this ISM are evaluated solely on the course project.

1. Progress Evaluations: The evaluations on September 25 and November 6 will each contribute 15% to the final grade, accounting for 30% in total. These assessments will measure the student's growing understanding of Rust concepts, their ability to apply them progressively, and the ability of the student to remain on the timeline for the course project.
2. Code Quality: Students will perform detailed code reviews for their peers throughout the course. These reviews will be used to measure the proper use of Rust idioms, safety features, and core concepts like ownership and borrowing and will contribute to 20% of the total grade.
3. Functionality and Completeness: This evaluates the correctness of implementation and fulfillment of project requirements. The gold standard for this parameter (and the project) is for your pull request to be accepted by an open-source project. It contributes to 20% of the total grade.
4. Documentation and Testing: The project codebase must be complemented by detailed documentation and unit tests. The clarity of code comments, appropriateness of the documentation, and the presence and quality of unit tests contribute to 15% of the total grade.
5. Project Presentation: The remaining 15% of the grade is allocated to the final presentation, where students will demonstrate their ability to articulate their project's goals, challenges, and outcomes, as well as reflect on their learning journey with Rust.

Policies: Students are expected to review and abide by Ashoka's Academic Integrity Policy (MyAshoka → Information and Documents → Office of Academic Affairs). Attendance is required in at least 7 out of 9 ISM meetings.

Calendar:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Aug 25	Aug 26	Aug 27	Aug 28	Aug 29	Aug 30 Meeting 1	Aug 31
Sep 1	Sep 2	Sep 3	Sep 4	Sep 5	Sep 6	Sep 7
Sep 8	Sep 9 Meeting 2 Project Proposal	Sep 10	Sep 11	Sep 12	Sep 13 Meeting 3	Sep 14
Sep 15	Sep 16	Sep 17	Sep 18	Sep 19	Sep 20 Meeting 4	Sep 21
Sep 22	Sep 23	Sep 24	Sep 25	Sep 26	Sep 27 Meeting 5: Evaluation I	Sep 28 Appraisal I
Sep 29	Sep 30	Oct 1	Oct 2	Oct 3	Oct 4 Meeting 6	Oct 5
Oct 6	Oct 7	Oct 8	Oct 9	Oct 10	Oct 11	Oct 12
Oct 13	Oct 14	Oct 15	Oct 16	Oct 17	Oct 18 Meeting 7	Oct 19
Oct 20	Oct 21	Oct 22	Oct 23	Oct 24	Oct 25 Meeting 8	Oct 26
Oct 27	Oct 28	Oct 29	Oct 30	Oct 31	Nov 1	Nov 2
Nov 3	Nov 4	Nov 5	Nov 6	Nov 7	Nov 8 Meeting 9: Evaluation II	Nov 9 Appraisal II
Nov 10	Nov 11	Nov 12	Nov 13	Nov 14	Nov 15	Nov 16
Nov 17	Nov 18	Nov 19	Nov 20	Nov 21 Project Submission	Nov 22	Nov 23
Nov 24	Nov 25	Nov 26	Nov 27	Nov 28	Nov 29 Project Presentations	Nov 30 Course Reflection