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Copilot AI commented Aug 2, 2025

This PR adds two comprehensive onboarding guides specifically designed to help junior Rust engineers get productive quickly on the Alys Bitcoin sidechain project.

What's Added

1. Quick Start Guide (QUICK_START_GUIDE.md)

A focused 15-minute introduction that gets new engineers up and running immediately:

  • Fast setup with essential prerequisites only
  • Project structure overview with key files highlighted
  • Real code examples from the actual codebase (AuxPoW module)
  • Common command reference for daily development
  • Immediate troubleshooting for the most frequent issues

2. Comprehensive Guide (JUNIOR_RUST_ENGINEER_GUIDE.md)

An exhaustive 12-section deep-dive covering everything a junior engineer needs:

  • Complete project understanding - Bitcoin sidechains, merged mining, federation consensus
  • Detailed setup instructions with real troubleshooting for network/certificate issues
  • Codebase architecture - deep dive into app/, crates/, and contracts/ structure
  • Rust patterns in practice - error handling, async programming, state management as used in Alys
  • Development workflows - building, testing, debugging with practical examples
  • Contributing guidelines - code style, PR process, security considerations

Key Features

Practical and Tested: All instructions have been validated against the actual codebase, including common build failures and their solutions.

Real Examples: Instead of abstract code samples, the guides use actual code from the project:

#[test]
fn empty_merkle_branch() {
    let hash_aux_block = BlockHash::from_byte_array([1; 32]);
    let blockchain_branch = MerkleBranch {
        branch_hash: vec![],
        branch_side_mask: 0,
    };
    // Real test from app/src/auxpow.rs showing merkle proof validation
}

Comprehensive Troubleshooting: Addresses real issues encountered during development:

  • Network timeouts during dependency resolution
  • SSL certificate verification failures
  • Lighthouse dependency build issues
  • Common runtime and testing problems

Progressive Learning Path: Guides engineers from basic setup through advanced contribution patterns, with clear next steps at each level.

Target Audience

Junior Rust engineers who are:

  • New to blockchain development
  • Unfamiliar with Bitcoin sidechains and merged mining concepts
  • Looking to contribute to a complex, production-grade Rust codebase
  • Need practical guidance beyond basic Rust tutorials

The guides complement the existing technical documentation by focusing specifically on the developer experience and practical engineering concerns.


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Co-authored-by: michaelgpt <64337609+michaelgpt@users.noreply.github.com>
Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] Draft an exhaustive in-depth guide covering this repo to onboard new junior rust engineers. Add comprehensive onboarding guides for junior Rust engineers Aug 2, 2025
Copilot AI requested a review from michaelgpt August 2, 2025 14:24
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2 participants