Rust in Production Matthias Endler

In the season premier we talk to none other than Daniel Stenberg! We focus on integrating Rust modules in curl, their benefits, ways in which Rust and Rust crates helped improve curl, but also how curl helped those crates, and where curl is used in the official Rust toolchain. Along the way we also learn about the early history of curl and Rust, which section of your car's owner's-manual you should "re"-read, some weird HTTP edge-cases, and Daniel's experience in open-source maintainership.And don't forget: have fun!

Imagine you're faced with the challenge to build a system that can handle billions of recyclable items per year with the goal of being better than a human at identifying what can be recycled. Material classification is a complex problem that requires a lot of data and a lot of processing power and it is a cutting-edge field of research. Carters Schultz and his colleagues at AMP chose Rust to build the core of this system -- and it worked "shockingly well". In this interview, Carter, charismatic and witty, shares his experience of getting your hands dirty with Rust, and building a cutting-edge production-ready system, which can be now replicated across the world.

There are probably only a handful of open-source projects that had a bigger impact on the world than Mozilla Thunderbird. The email client has been around for over two decades and has been a staple for many users (me included). Dealing with a legacy codebase that servers millions of users is no easy feat. The team at MZLA, a subsidiary of Mozilla, has been working hard to modernize the core of Thunderbird by writing new parts in Rust. In this episode, I talk to Brendan Abolivier, a software engineer at MZLA, about the challenges of working on a legacy codebase, the new Rust-based Exchange protocol support, which is the first new protocol in Thunderbird in over a decade, and the future of Thunderbird.

The idea of smart robots automating away boring household chores sounds enticing, yet these devices rarely work as advertised: they get stuck, they break down, or are security nightmares. And so it's refreshing to see a company like Matic taking a different approach by attempting to build truly smart, reliable, and privacy-respecting robots. They use Rust for 95% of their codebase, and use camera vision to navigate, vacuum, and mop floors.
I sit down with Eric Seppanen, Software Engineer at Matic, to learn about vertical integration in robotics, on-device sensor processing, large Rust codebases, and why Rust is a great language for the problem space.

It has become a trope by now: "Cars are computers on wheels." In modern cars, not only the infotainment system but also the engine, brakes, and steering wheel are controlled by software. Better make sure that software is safe. Alexandru Radovici is a Software Engineer at OxidOS, a company that builds a secure, open-source operating system for cars built on Rust and Tock. We talk about the challenges of certifying Rust code for the automotive industry and the new possibilities with Rust-based car software.

Rust can run everywhere, and by everywhere, we don't just mean on all operating systems, but also in all kinds of harsh environments: from the depths of the ocean to the vastness of space. Today we talk to a company that is using Rust to conquer the air. Fusion Engineering is building drone control systems for the next generation of drones.Jakub Valtar walks us through how Fusion Engineering came to use Rust as the foundation of their company. He explains why Rust is the safest choice for building drone control systems and what it takes to get into drone development.