Rust Developer · Storage Systems · Community Builder

From literature & linguistics to building distributed storage engines in Rust — my journey proves that curiosity and persistence matter more than background.

Building storage systems from first principles
I'm exploring how databases work under the hood by implementing core concepts: segmented logs, LSM trees, compaction strategies, and distributed architectures.

Latest project: mini-kvstore-v2
A production-ready key-value store with HTTP REST API, built in 3 weeks while learning Rust.

• 🔐 Append-only segmented logs with crash recovery
• ⚡ In-memory indexing for O(1) lookups
• 🗜️ Manual compaction with space reclamation
• 🌐 Async HTTP API (Axum + Tokio)
• 🐳 Docker-ready with multi-node deployment
• 📊 ~240K writes/sec, ~11M reads/sec on M4

Timeline:
📅 Started Rust: October 27, 2025
🚀 Shipped mini-kvstore-v2: November 21, 2025
📝 Read the learning journey →

Currently exploring:

• Distributed systems — consensus protocols, replication, partitioning
• Storage engines — LSM trees, write-ahead logs, bloom filters
• Systems programming — async Rust, zero-copy I/O, performance profiling
• Community building — organizing Rust Aix-Marseille (RAM)

Resources I'm working through:

• Database Internals by Alex Petrov
• Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann
• The Rust Book (repeatedly)

Primary:
Rust · Swift · SwiftUI

Storage & Systems:
Append-only logs · LSM trees · In-memory indexing · Segment compaction

Async & APIs:
Tokio · Axum · REST · HTTP/2

Tools:
Docker · k6 · Criterion · GitHub Actions

Learning:
Distributed consensus · gRPC · Prometheus metrics · Web Assembly

Production-ready segmented key-value store with HTTP API

Built as a deep dive into storage engine fundamentals:

• Append-only logs with automatic rotation
• In-memory HashMap index for instant lookups
• CRC32 checksums for data integrity
• Background compaction (space reclamation)
• Async HTTP server with health checks & metrics
• Comprehensive test suite + benchmarks

Tech: Rust, Axum, Tokio, Docker
Highlights: 364 commits in 3 weeks, 240K writes/sec, CI/CD pipeline

📖 Read JOURNEY.md — 3 weeks from "what's a borrow checker?" to shipping a working storage engine

First attempt at persistent storage — taught me where design choices break and how to redesign them.

Lightweight experiment using CSV as persistence — great for understanding abstraction boundaries.

SwiftUI-based 3D DNA structure — crossover between science, art, and animation.

Exploration of lunar motion and lighting in SwiftUI.

Co-organizing monthly meetups for Rust developers in southern France.

🔗 LinkedIn Company Page
💬 Discord Server
🎯 Goal: Build a welcoming local community for Rust learners and experts

Reddit:

• 3 weeks into Rust: Built a segmented log KV store
• Follow-up: HTTP API + production features

LinkedIn:

• Building storage systems from scratch
• Learning journey reflections
• RAM meetup launch announcement

"The best way to learn is to build."

I believe in:

• Learning in public — sharing the messy middle, not just polished results
• Building from first principles — understanding how things work by implementing them
• Community over competition — we learn faster together
• Clarity over cleverness — simple, well-documented systems that make sense

Coming from literature means I think about code as communication:
Structure determines outcome. Precision isn't optional. Systems should tell their own story.

Technical:

• Implement distributed consensus (Raft)
• Build a working LSM-tree storage engine
• Contribute to production Rust projects (Signal-iOS, sled, others)
• Write-ahead log implementation with crash guarantees

Community:

• Host 12 Rust meetups in Aix-Marseille
• Mentor 5+ developers new to Rust
• Write technical blog series on storage engines
• Speak at a Rust conference

Learning:

• Complete "Database Internals" with implementation examples
• Master async Rust patterns
• Understand distributed tracing & observability
• Explore WebAssembly compilation targets

• GitHub: github.com/whispem
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/emilie-peretti
• X/Twitter: twitter.com/whisp_em
• HuggingFace: huggingface.co/whispem
• Email: [email protected]

Rust Aix-Marseille:

• Discord: discord.gg/sXr9ZqBJ
• LinkedIn: Rust Aix-Marseille

Education:
Italian Studies — Aix-Marseille University

Journey:
Literature → Languages → Structure → Systems → Storage Engines

I came to programming through linguistics — the study of how meaning emerges from structure. Turns out, distributed systems and grammar have more in common than you'd think.

What changed:
Realized that computer science is fundamentally about designing clear, predictable systems. My background in analyzing structure and meaning translates directly to writing good code.

Timeline:

• 🎓 Studied Italian literature & linguistics
• 🔄 Discovered programming through technical writing
• 📱 Built iOS apps with Swift/SwiftUI
• 🦀 Oct 2025: Started learning Rust
• 🚀 Nov 2025: Shipped first production Rust project
• 🤝 Nov 2025: Launched Rust Aix-Marseille community

If you find my projects helpful:

• ⭐ Star the repositories — helps others discover them
• 🐛 Open issues — feedback makes everything better
• 🤝 Contribute — PRs welcome on all projects
• 📢 Share — tell others about Rust RAM

"Structure determines outcome. Precision isn't optional. You learn by building."

Building in public, learning from first principles, sharing the journey.