Zoo with Jessie Frazelle
Rust in Production
00:00
From KittyCAD to Zoo.dev: Evolution of a CAD Company
This chapter traces the transformation of a company name from 'KittyCAD' to 'Zoo.dev', reflecting its playful branding tied to animal themes. It also explores the innovative features of their CAD software, the development of its core functionalities, and the research process that seeks to overcome the limitations of existing tools in the industry.
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Think about this: software engineers have modern code editors, parallel processing, continuous integration, and countless tools that make their work efficient. But hardware engineers? They're often working with single-threaded tools, limited automation, and workflows that haven't fundamentally changed in decades. Zoo is building the infrastructure to change that, creating a modern set of tools and APIs that will allow companies and engineers to build better hardware design tools and accelerate the development of physical products.
Today we're joined by Jessie Frazelle, CEO of Zoo (formerly KittyCAD), to talk about migrating core parts of Zoo's infrastructure to Rust, boring infrastructure, how Rust can help bridge the gap between software and hardware development, and how Zoo is building the foundation for the next generation of hardware development tools.
About Zoo
While software engineering has evolved with powerful tools and workflows, hardware design is still stuck 'the dark ages.' Zoo's mission is to make building hardware products as seamless as building software.
Zoo is working on everything from graphics engines to automated workflows for mechanical engineers, and they're even developing their own file format in collaboration with industry leaders. Their goal is to become the foundation that powers the next generation of hardware design tools, making it possible for individuals and small teams to build innovative solutions that were previously only possible within major companies.
About Jessie Frazelle
Jessie Frazelle is the CEO of Zoo and a former software engineer at Microsoft, Docker, and Google. She's a contributor to many well-known open-source projects and has a background in security, containers, and cloud computing. Jessie is also a prolific speaker and writer, and she's passionate about making technology fun and accessible to everyone.
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Links From The Episode (In Chronological Order)
- LXC - Alternative Linux container tool
- Oxide Computer Company - Jessie's previous startup
- Relativity Space - Jordan's previous startup
- Solidworks - CAD software used at Oxide
- Parasolid - CAD kernel from the 1980s
- OpenSCAD - A code to 3d model CAD software
- fillet - rounded edges on objects
- B-rep - representing 3d models by their boundaries instead of lots of triangles
- ACM Queue: "A new era for mechanical CAD"
- Tauri - Lightweight, Rust based Electron alternative
- WebRTC - Real-Time communication for the web
- igalia - Amazing WebRTC consultancy with the coolest nerds on the planet
- NAPI-RS - Use Rust in NodeJS
- Leptos - Build interactive web applications in Rust
- Dioxus - Rust GUI toolkit for web, desktop, mobile, and more
- Vulkan - low-level standardised graphics programming interface
- CUDA - Nvidia's parallel computing interface
- nTop - formerly nTopology, implicity modelling application
- Nomad - container orchestration software from HashiCorp
- KCL examples - Some examples of the KittyCAD Language
- CXX - C++/Rust interop
- STEP - CAD file format
- glTF - JSON based 3d file format
- ruststep - STEP parser using derive macros
- schemars - Generate JSON schemas from Rust types
- cargo-expand - expand Rust macros
- dropshot - Oxide's OpenAPI server framework
- zoo.dev: "Boring Infrasctructure" - Simplifying backend infrastructure with Rust
- Rust in Production: Zed - Podcast episode with Conrad Irwin from Zed
- tokio - Rust's most used async runtime
- http crate - A general purpose library of common HTTP types
- hyper - A protective and efficient HTTP library for all.
- Rust in Production: Oxide - Podcast episode with Steve Klabnik from Oxide Computer Company
- Clippy - Rust's official linter
- anyhow - Error library for Rust applications
- go generate - Generate Go files by processing source
- Embedded.fm: "That Girl's Brain" - Podcast episode with Jessie
- Adam Chalmers: "Making a Programming Language for 3D Design" - Recording of Adam's RustConf 2024 talk about KCL
- winnow - nom, but better
- nom - a parser combinator library
- zoo.dev: "Introducing Delouse" - Zoo's async debugging framework
- The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder - Book recommended by Bryan Cantrill
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