RustWeek Interview: Boxy, Compiler Team Co-Lead & Types Team Member

At RustWeek 2026, the Rust Project Content Team talks with Boxy, Compiler Team co-lead, Types Team member, and lead of the Const Generics Project Group. Boxy shares how learning Rust in 2020 as a C# developer led to contributing to the Bevy game engine, then to the Rust compiler, and to five years of compiler work since. Topics include: - Getting hooked on compiler contribution: why diagnostics fixes make good starter issues, and why it pays to dive in headfirst rather than optimize for the perfect first issue - Type system documentation in the rustc dev guide: turning 2,000-word ad hoc Zulip explanations into reusable docs, like the pages on early- and late-bound generic parameters and type alias handling - Keeping docs alive: replicating the dev guide into the main compiler tree so small doc fixes ride along with compiler changes, and why docs bit-rot even when the code doesn't - The state of const generics: enums and other user-defined types as const generic parameters, const parameters whose types involve generics, generic arguments to const generics like N + 1 and size_of::ᐸTᐳ(), associated constants, and newer min generic const args experiments following the earlier generic const expressions work - Project management in the open: mapping the dependency graph between features with GitHub issues, and why better graph tooling would help (GitHub engineers, take note) - How to find mentorship: show up on the Rust Zulip, introduce yourself in the new members stream, open a thread, or just DM Boxy for const generics and type system work Boxy's RustWeek 2026 talk, "Compilers are just programs: Fixing a bug in the Rust compiler": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osTwwllrgeA Links and resources: - Boxy on GitHub: https://github.com/BoxyUwU - RustWeek 2026: https://2026.rustweek.org/ - The Rust Zulip: https://rust-lang.zulipchat.com/ - rustc dev guide: https://rustc-dev-guide.rust-lang.org/ - Early- and late-bound parameters in the dev guide: https://rustc-dev-guide.rust-lang.org/early_late_parameters.html - Const Generics Project Group: https://github.com/rust-lang/project-const-generics - lcnr, for devilish type system questions: https://github.com/lcnr - Bevy game engine: https://bevyengine.org/ Interested in contributing to Rust? Const generics and the type system could use more people, and there is capacity to mentor. Show up on the Zulip, ask, and things can be found. Interview conducted by Pete LeVasseur on behalf of the Rust Project Content Team. Find Pete at: - https://github.com/PLeVasseur/ - https://bsky.app/profile/petelevasseur.com