Despite the title, this blog post doesn't start with Rust. Instead, it starts with the tradgedy of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. Numberphile had recently uploaded a video about the SIR model, which describes the spread of an infectious disease. The simple yet powerful nature of the model and its relevance to current events struck a chord with me: I had to code this up for myself.

Python seemed like the best candidate for the job, given the existence of numerical libraries such as NumPy and SciPy. My first iteration needed just 35 lines of code, a testament to Python's expressiveness and the well-designed library interfaces.

The next step seemed clear to me: how cool would it be to put this on the web? Sure, it's a simple model, but one of great relevance given recent events, so maybe it might interest some.

I weighed my options. I had a … Read more