Preface

Welcome to CPVR - Computational Physics via Rust, a comprehensive exploration of computational physics implemented through the Rust programming language. This textbook serves as a bridge between advanced computational techniques and practical implementation, offering a robust guide for applying Rust to various challenges in computational physics.

Reflecting on our early days of learning computational physics, we vividly remember the challenges of coding in FORTRAN and C/C++. It was a time of memorizing complex algorithms, grappling with cryptic syntax, and working with a painfully limited number of sample codes. Every advancement felt like a hard-won battle, where the focus was often more on making the code work than on truly understanding the underlying physics.

Today, we stand on the brink of a new era—one characterized by significant advancements in both tools and methodologies. Rust has been selected for this textbook due to its growing ecosystem and its status as a modern systems language. Here’s why Rust is particularly well-suited for computational physics:

• Modern Systems Language: Rust offers a focus on safety, performance, and concurrency. Its modern features, including a strong type system, memory safety guarantees, and advanced error handling, make it a powerful tool for developing robust and efficient computational systems.

• Native Support for Parallelism and Concurrency: Rust’s native support for parallelism and concurrency simplifies writing high-performance, concurrent code compared to traditional languages like C/C++ and Python. Its ownership model and concurrency primitives provide fine-grained control over data access, reducing the risk of race conditions and ensuring thread safety.

• Adoption Across Computing Domains: Rust’s versatility extends to various fields, including numerical, semi-numerical, and non-numerical computing. Its performance characteristics and extensive library support make it suitable for a broad range of applications, from systems programming to high-performance computing.

We are in a golden age where Generative AI (GenAI) has liberated us from the past struggles of coding. This is a time to unlearn old habits, embrace modern tools, and leverage AI to enhance our understanding of physics. With GenAI, you no longer need to worry about the intricacies of programming; instead, you can focus on deepening your understanding of the fundamental laws of physics while AI translates that understanding into efficient, optimized code.

CPVR is designed to guide you through both conceptual and practical aspects of computational physics in a fun and engaging manner. Whether you’re new to Rust or programming in general, rest assured that GenAI can generate code in any language you choose. We’ve selected Rust for its growing potential in scientific computing, offering both safety and performance.

As you embark on this journey with CPVR, remember that the focus should be on mastering the physics. The tools and code are here to support your understanding, not the other way around. Dive in, explore, and enjoy the learning experience that this book—and the era of GenAI—makes possible.