128. Writing a book about Rust & Lambda

In this episode, we discuss Luciano's new book project on using Rust to write AWS Lambda functions. We start with a recap on why Rust is a good fit for Lambda, including performance, efficiency, safety, and low cold start times. Luciano provides details on the book's progress so far, the intended audience, and the current published chapters covering Lambda internals, getting started with Rust Lambda, and building a URL shortener app with DynamoDB. We also explore the differences between traditional publishing and self-publishing, and why Luciano chose the self-publishing route for this book. Luciano shares insights into the writing process with AsciiDoc, code samples, SVG image generation, and using Gumroad for distribution. He invites feedback from listeners who have experience with Rust and Lambda.

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AWS Bites is brought to you by fourTheorem. If you are looking for a partner to architect, develop and modernise on AWS, give fourTheorem a call. We have also been working with some of our customers to rewrite some of their most used Lambda functions in Rust, greatly reducing cost and improving performance. If all of this sounds interesting, check us out at fourtheorem.com.


🔖 Chapters:

00:00 Intro
01:06 Quick recap on using Rust for Lambda and why it fits well
05:50 Details on the book and the intended audience
08:52 The current state of the book and the 4 published chapters
12:04 What is the scope of the book and what other chapters are coming
15:53 Pros and Cons of Having a publisher VS self-publishing
20:57 The build process using AsciiDoc
23:48 Selecting GumRoad as a shopfront
25:52 Closing notes


In this episode, we mentioned the following resources:

- Our previous episode "64. How do you write Lambda Functions in Rust?": https://awsbites.com/64-how-do-you-wr...
- Crafting Lambda Functions in Rust book's website: https://rust-lambda.com/
- The official Rust book (available for free): https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/
- James Eastham awesome YouTube channel: ‪@serverlessjames‬
- AI as a Service book: https://www.manning.com/books/ai-as-a...
- Node.js Design Patterns book: https://www.nodejsdesignpatterns.com/
- Liran Tal's awesome AsciiDoc book starter template: https://github.com/lirantal/asciidoc-...

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