DEV Community: RAJAPAKSHA G.A.G.V.

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RAJAPAKSHA G.A.G.V. — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 11:13:13 +0000

RAJAPAKSHA G.A.G.V.

Sep 4

RUST Experience From Scratch - 01

#programming #rust #tutorial #beginners

2 min read

RUST Experience From Scratch - 01

RAJAPAKSHA G.A.G.V. — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 10:44:19 +0000

Hello dev community 👋

First of all, let me introduce myself!

I am a final-year Computer Science undergraduate, a freelance full-stack developer, and DevOps engineer. I have hands-on experience with C++, Java, and Python. Recently, I started exploring Rust, and I quickly realized just how magical of a language it is.

Why Rust?

From my perspective, Rust provides unmatched memory safety guarantees without needing a garbage collector. It strikes a sweet spot low-level enough for system performance, yet high-level enough for ergonomic developer experience.

Once your code compiles, the chance of runtime failure drops drastically. A few things that made me fall in love with Rust:

Intelligent Compiler: Its helpful error messages read almost like human advice.
Blazing Fast Execution: Built-in performance optimizations ensure high-speed operations.
Modern Tooling: cargo makes dependency management and building effortless.

While Rust is notorious for its steep learning curve (thanks to the borrow checker!), its world-class documentation, tooling, and supportive community make learning it completely worth the effort!

📚 Official Rust Learning Resources
💬 Rust Community Forum

Getting Started with Rust

1. Installation

Linux / macOS: Run this command in your terminal:

  curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Windows: Visit the official Rust Installation Guide to download rustup-init.exe.

2. Creating Your First Project

When you install Rust, you also get Cargo Rust’s official build system and package manager. Cargo handles building your code, downloading libraries, and managing dependencies.

To create a new project, run:

cargo new hello-world

This creates a new folder named hello-world with all the necessary boilerplate.

Navigate inside the project and open src/main.rs.

Hello World with Rust 👋🌍

Inside src/main.rs, you'll see:

fn main() {
    println!("Hello, World!");
}

Booyaah!! 🥳 You’re looking at your first Rust program!

Quick Note: Notice the ! at the end of println!? That means it’s a Rust Macro, not a standard function call. Macros are a form of metaprogramming (code that writes code) and are extremely powerful in Rust. We’ll dive deeper into macros in a future post!

Running the Project

To compile and execute your app, run Cargo's run command in your project root:

cargo run

You’ll see output similar to this:

hello-world git:(master) ✗ cargo run
   Compiling hello-world v0.1.0 (/path/to/hello-world)
    Finished `dev` profile [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.86s
     Running `target/debug/hello-world`
Hello, World!

What's Next?

This is just the start of my Rust journey! In the upcoming post, I'll cover variables.

Drop a comment below if you're also learning Rust or planning to start! Happy coding! 🦀

[Boost]

RAJAPAKSHA G.A.G.V. — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 17:29:42 +0000

RAJAPAKSHA G.A.G.V.

Sep 1

👋 Hello DEV Community!

#productivity #career #learning #welcome

3 min read

👋 Hello DEV Community!

RAJAPAKSHA G.A.G.V. — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 17:28:48 +0000

I've been reading articles on DEV for a while, and today I finally decided to step out of the lurker zone and write my very first post! 🚀

👨‍💻 Who Am I?

I am an undergraduate Computer Science student currently working as a DevOps Engineer (still a bit beyond beginner and learning new DevOps skills every day!).

Before moving into DevOps, I took on freelancing and university projects to cover my university fees. Most were final-year projects for Sri Lankan university students, along with a few real-world client projects. While developing full-stack applications, my curiosity for DevOps began to grow. I started applying basic DevOps practices to my projects - most of them failed, but I learned so much through those failures!

🧠 The "Thirsty Deer" Phase & Curiosity

I’ve always had a habit of exploring new technologies and tech news. Discovering the GitHub Student Developer Pack was a huge turning point for my learning. I explored new tools like a thirsty deer! However, I realized many opportunities were limited for students in Sri Lanka. It was disappointing, but my attitude has always been simple: never give up, keep going, keep digging.

Family is everything to me. Raised by a mother who worked tirelessly as an iron woman to feed us and teach us right from wrong, my ultimate goal is to make her proud one day. ❤️

💻 How It All Started: From Magic to Code

After my Advanced Level examinations, I started working as a Customer Service Officer at Dialog Axiata PLC. With that salary, I bought my very first computer.

Since childhood, I had a serious curiosity about computers — how pictures rendered on screens, how transistors and silicon diodes worked, and how typing a letter on a keyboard made it instantly appear on screen. It felt like absolute magic!

At first, I used my PC mostly for gaming. Naturally, I wondered how these games were built. A quick YouTube search gave me the key: programming.

I picked up Python, and Python felt like magic too. I still remember the day I built my first project - a simple terminal calculator! (And yes, infinite loops used to scare the life out of me back then... golden days! 😂)

🏛️ University Days & The Laptop Savior

Getting accepted into the Computer Science program at the Eastern University of Sri Lanka was a dream come true. I’ll never forget the happy face of my mom the day I got the news. I stepped into university in July 2023.

Shortly after arriving, financial challenges hit hard. I had to learn technologies fast to survive. I took a loan to buy a laptop - an i7 8th Gen HP EliteBook (still using that beast today, my true life savior!). I started doing small university projects for a low price to support myself.

By my second year, I became the President of the Computer Science Society at our university. It was a huge responsibility, but I loved organizing workshops and webinars. I've always believed in sharing knowledge with students who are eager to learn - teaching what I know while learning from everyone around me.

🚀 The Startup Journey & Internship

In university, I met a senior batchmate who shared the same tech vision. He had started a software startup and invited me to join him. We worked together on real-world client projects, which helped me gain hands-on engineering experience and earn an income.

Fast forward to July this year, I officially started my internship with that same company! Currently, I’m working as a Full Stack Developer & DevOps Engineer here.

💎 Why DEV Community Matters in the AI Era

I visited DEV for the first time last year, but I held back from actively posting due to language barriers with English. But I really wanted to connect.

To me, the DEV community is a gem. In today’s AI-driven era, we often rely heavily on AI agents to fix bugs instantly. While that’s great, we sometimes lose the organic knowledge-sharing and experience-building that developers used to have on platforms like Stack Overflow and DEV. Community support, shared experiences, and human learning are more valuable now than ever!

So, from today onwards, I am officially an active member of this awesome community.

Let’s keep shining and building! ✨

Drop a comment below - I’d love to say hi and connect with you all! 👇