A Noob's Journey to Blockchain Development in Rust

Introduction When I picked up Rust, I wanted more than just another programming language. My goal was to build a foundation strong enough to carry me into blockchain development, I also decided to explore low level programming (I know some will say rust is a partial low level language) as opposed to Python and Javascript, I was already familiar with. I wanted to challenge and change how I think about systems programming. This drive led me to my first hands-on project, setting the stage for bigger things ahead. This article is the first chapter of that journey, I'll share how I built a ticket validator CLI in pure Rust, what I learned along the way, and how this projects fits into my larger roadmap: moving from Rust fundamentals to Solana, Near, and eventually Substrate (yeah, it seems like a lot but I intend to explores features in these blockchains mentioned with primary focus on Solana). I'm taking a domain based path here, applying what I learn directly to blockchain scenarios, so I