Stop following, start building

The Project Workshop 🛠️

Lessons teach you the language. Projects teach you to program. Here you get a spec, not a script: build the thing yourself, reach for a hint only when you're stuck, and compare with a reference solution at the end.

⚠️ This will feel harder than the lessons That is the entire point, and it is not a sign you learned badly. Staring at an empty file is a skill of its own, and the only way to build it is to stare at a few. Struggle for a while before opening a hint; the struggle is where the learning happens.

Projects

P1

Number Guessing Game

The classic first program: the computer picks a number, you guess, it says higher or lower. Loops, user input, and match.

●●● after Level 1 ~45 min
P2

Tip Splitter CLI

A real command-line tool that reads arguments, does honest money math, and fails gracefully when someone types nonsense.

●●● after Level 2 ~1 hour
P3

Todo List

Your first program that remembers things between runs: structs, vectors, and reading and writing a real file.

●●● after Level 2 ~1.5 hours
Coming soon

More projects on the way

Flashcard Quizzer, Text Adventure, Word Counter Pro, and the capstone: rebuilding this website's own Rust web server from a spec.

🎓 How to use the workshop
  1. Read the spec, then close this tab. Open your editor and try. Getting it wrong first is normal and useful.
  2. Hints are a ladder, not an elevator. They go from a gentle nudge to actual code. Take the smallest one that unsticks you.
  3. Compare at the end. The reference solution is one valid answer, not the only one. If yours works and reads clearly, yours is right.
  4. Then break it. Every project has stretch goals. That's where it stops being homework and starts being yours.