Pino controller

Bare-metal BLDC controller for Pino the robot, written in Rust!

---

Disclaimer: I'm quite new at Rust, so please bear with me

This repository is currently a continuously changing, seething mess as I flail around learning Rust. You're welcome to browse around the code, but please don't expect proper, idiomatic Rust code just yet. For that I'd suggest the following resources:

• The Rust Book - Seriously, read it "cover to cover" as it were. Coming from >15 years of C++ I debated whether it was worth reading the absolute basics, but I ended up going through it all and don't regret it one bit.
• Embedded Rust Book - I know, I know, another book. But it's quite a bit shorter and more of a getting-started guide to getting Rust up and running in an embedded context.
• m4vga-rs - Not only is it a downright amazing implementation - 800x600@60FPS VGA on an STM32F4 (!) - the code is entirely in Rust and spectacularly well commented to boot! Definitely the place where I'm learning the most about Rust.

---

Why rust?

I originally started the controller in C++, but found myself spending more and more time thinking about the language implementation, template metaprogramming, and wrestling with the inability to constexpr a raw address (can't reinterpret_cast<Foo> an address in a constexpr, but don't take my word for it...), and less time on the actual controller itself. That's when I stumbled on Cliff Biffle's post with the contentious title "Prefer Rust to C/++ for new code". He posits that Rust was ready to replace C++ in most-if-not-all situations, and that was back in 2019. That post single-handedly convinced me to try out Rust, and I haven't looked back since.

Building it

Don't bother trying right now; it doesn't really do anything :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

But if you really want to:

1. cargo build
2. Connect your NUCLEO-G474RE, and follow the Embedded Rust steps for adding the proper udev rules
3. In VSCode, select cortex-debug launch configuraiton
4. Hit F5