# Rust at Work - conversation with Eli Shalom and Igal Tabachnik of Eureka Labs

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/rustacean-station/rust-at-work-conversation-with-eli-shalom-and-igal-tabachnik-of-eureka-labs.md
Podcast: [Rustacean Station](https://stenobird.com/podcast/rustacean-station)
Published: 2025-06-14T07:15:00+00:00
Episode link: https://rustacean-station.org/episode/eli-shalom-and-igal-tabachnik/
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/audio.rustacean-station.org/file/rustacean-station/2025-06-14-eli-shalom-and-igal-tabachnik.mp3
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Duration seconds: 4729

## Resource

Engineers from Eureka Labs discuss leveraging Rust's type system to build high-throughput blockchain infrastructure. The conversation explores how Rust's functional programming influences and prevents common runtime errors in low-latency environments.

## Highlights
- Main idea: Rust's trait system allows for a clean separation of data (structs) and behavior (traits), mirroring functional programming patterns
- Practical takeaway: Use Rust's compiler to catch logical errors, such as invalid equality comparisons for floating-point numbers, at compile time
- Failure mode: Attempting to write Rust like Java or C without embracing ownership and error handling leads to frequent runtime panics
- Main idea: The transition from JVM-based languages like Scala to Rust is facilitated by Rust's adoption of type class concepts
- Practical takeaway: For standard web backend services, higher-level languages like Kotlin may be more efficient, but Rust is essential for performance-critical infrastructure

## Topics

Rust, Blockchain, Software Engineering, Type Systems, Functional Programming, Infrastructure, Eureka Labs, Systems Programming

## Chapters
- 1:00 — Introductions: The host introduces the guests from Eureka Labs and discusses their backgrounds in code analysis and backend engineering.
- 7:00 — Blockchain Fundamentals: An explanation of how blocks are added to a chain and the role of block builders.
- 13:00 — The Role of Block Builders: Discussing the process of picking up transactions from the network and creating optimized blocks.
- 19:05 — Rust's Type System and Safety: How Rust's type system ensures data integrity and prevents runtime errors through compile-time checks.
- 24:55 — Design-Time Safety: The benefits of handling complex logic and payload parsing during compilation rather than at runtime.
- 36:55 — Functional Programming Influences: Exploring how Rust borrows concepts like type classes from Haskell to manage data transformations.
- 49:10 — Evaluating Ecosystem Dependencies: A discussion on the importance of vetting third-party crates for quality and security.
- 1:12:45 — Choosing the Right Tool: Deciding when to use Rust versus JVM-based languages like Kotlin for different backend use cases.

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## Transcript

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