Six Nice Things About Rust
This piece was written as part of a presentation for SEP Learns, a training program for new developers at SEP.
From talking to a couple people about Rust, it seems Rust can have a bit of a reputation as an obscure and difficult language. Here is my take: Rust sets developers up for success by putting what are usually hidden assumptions about a program and encoding them into the type system, where they can be checked at compile time. Let's start with the most notorious construct in programming, null:
1. No null
From this decision flows much of the flavor of Rust. Consider this function in Typescript:
// returns index of first match if found, else null
function findLetter(word: string, letter: string) -> number | null {
// ...snip...
}
Using it would looks like:
const index = findLetter("Hello world", "w");
// null check
if (index) {
console.log("found character at index:", index);
}
In Rust, such a function would look like this:
fn find_index(word: &str, letter: char) -> Option<number> {
// ...snip...
}
and using it would look like:
if let Some(index) = find_index("Hello world".to_string(), 'w') {
println!("Found character at index {}", index);
}
Any language that is upfront about when objects are null, such as Typescript in strict mode or C# 8 and up, are nice to work with, and mitigate the pain of having null in a system.
But Rust is one example that shows we can avoid null all together without losing any ergonomics, even though we're adding more types to the system.
Additionally, types like Option from the standard library also come with some nice utility functions:
// Return the Some(T) value, else stop and exit the program
let index = find_letter("Hello world".to_string(), 'w').unwrap();
// Return the Some(T) value, else use this value instead
let index = find_letter("Hello world".to_string(), 'w').unwrap_or(42);
// Returns true if Some, else false
let found_index = find_letter("Hello world".to_string(), 'w').is_some();
Rust enums show up again in:
2. Error Handling
Here is a sample of the most common error handling trick, try-catch, in C# (source):
class ReadFromFile
{
static void Main()
{
string text = "";
try
{
text = System.IO.File.ReadAllText(@"./file");
}
catch
{
System.Console.WriteLine("Something went wrong reading the file");
}
System.Console.WriteLine("Contents of files.txt = {0}", text);
}
}
In VSCode, if you hover over ReadAllText, you get a nice little description of all the Errors that can be raised if you call this function. However, if ReadAllText is wrapped in another function, the error information is lost unless the author documents it.
Rust leaves no doubt. Rust models recoverable errors in the Result<T,E> enum:
enum Result<T, E> {
Ok(T),
Err(E),
}
Just like the Option type, callers will have to explicitly handle success and failure cases. Conveniently, many of the utility methods that applied to Option apply to Result. Result also has the "?" operator, which tells Rust to stop and return an error if an error is returned:
// example from https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/result/index.html
fn write_info(info: &Info) -> io::Result<()> {
let mut file = File::create("my_best_friends.txt")?;
// Early return on error
file.write_all(format!("name: {}\n", info.name).as_bytes())?;
file.write_all(format!("age: {}\n", info.age).as_bytes())?;
file.write_all(format!("rating: {}\n", info.rating).as_bytes())?;
Ok(())
}
Since we've seen how enums are used to replace null and try-catch, it's worth mentioning how powerful they can be when used with...
3. Pattern Matching
Our find_index function returns a value of type Option<number>, which is defined as:
enum Option<T> {
Some(T),
None
}
To consume this value, we can deconstruct it, much like can deconstruct in other languages. The above if let is one example. Another is a match statement:
match find_letter("Hello world".to_string(), 'w') {
Some(i) => println!("Found char at index {}:", i),
None => println!("Did not find char")
};
Notice that for match statements, compilation will fail if you don't handle every member of the enum.
We can even handle more complicated examples:
pub enum QuestionMarkBox {
Empty,
Money(u32),
PowerUp {
effect: String,
amount: String,
}
}
struct Mario {}
impl Mario {
fn open_box(&self, qmbox: QuestionMarkBox) -> String {
match qmbox {
QuestionMarkBox::Empty => "shucks!".to_string(),
QuestionMarkBox::Money(amt) => format!("I got ${}!!!", amt),
QuestionMarkBox::PowerUp{
effect,
amount,
} => format!("Received {} effect for +{}.", effect, amount)
}
}
}
4. The Borrow Checker
The borrow checker is both the most notorious and the the most consequential thing about Rust.
During compilation the borrow checker makes sure that every value in your code has either one mutable reference or multiple immutable references. If there are zero references, the value is dropped.
This is an essential feature for writing correct concurrent code. But it is also helpful in single-threaded code. Consider this maybe surprising effect of having two mutable references in Typescript:
const goodTwin = { is: "good" };
const evilTwin = goodTwin;
evilTwin.is = "evil";
// good or evil???
console.log("The good twin:", goodTwin);
Even though we declare goodTwin as a constant variable, and do not mutate goodTwin directly, goodTwin becomes evil because we gave a reference to evilTwin, who mutated the object (should have used Object.freeze).
If we try this is Rust:
let good_twin = Twin { is: "good".to_string() };
let mut evil_twin = good_twin;
evil_twin.is = "evil".to_string();
println!("Good twin: {:?}", good_twin);
We get this build error:
error[E0382]: borrow of moved value: `good_twin`
--> src/twins.rs:13:31
|
9 | let good_twin = Twin { is: "good".to_string() };
| --------- move occurs because `good_twin` has type `Twin`, which does not implement the `Copy` trait
10 | let mut evil_twin = good_twin;
| --------- value moved here
...
13 | println!("Good twin: {:?}", good_twin);
| ^^^^^^^^^ value borrowed here after moved
When good_twin gives a reference to evil_twin, good_twin gives up its reference. good_twin is no longer a valid reference, and now we don't have to deal with competing sources of what the value is.
To achieve the same thing we did in Javascript, we would have to declare good_twin as mutable, and pass an explicitly mutable reference to evil_twin:
let mut good_twin = Twin{ is: "good".to_string() };
let evil_twin = &mut good_twin;
evil_twin.is = "evil".to_string();
Perhaps a better example of the power of the borrow checker is the following classic mistake. In Python:
numbers = [1, 2, 8, 3, 4, 5]
for num in numbers:
if num % 2 == 0:
numbers.remove(num)
print(numbers)
We're mutating a list while we iterate over it. If you run the sample, the eight, an even number, is not removed from the list.
Let's try again in Rust:
let mut list = vec![1, 2, 8, 8, 1];
for (i, num) in list.iter().enumerate() {
if num % 2 == 0 {
list.remove(i);
}
}
The compilation fails with this error:
error[E0502]: cannot borrow `list` as mutable because it is also borrowed as immutable
--> src/abusing_lists.rs:7:13
|
5 | for (i, num) in list.iter().enumerate() {
| -----------------------
| |
| immutable borrow occurs here
| immutable borrow later used here
6 | if num % 2 == 0 {
7 | list.remove(i);
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ mutable borrow occurs here
F
As long as the iterator itself has a reference to the list, no other reference can mutate the list.
The borrow checker is the novel thing about Rust. The next thing is not as novel, but is just as crucial for feeling at home in Rust:
5. Traits (Interfaces)
Traits are interfaces that allow default implementations (think recent C#). They are used in all the places you would use interfaces: as parameter and return types, as bounds on generic parameters, as super and sub traits of other traits, and so on. Since Rust does not support inheritance for structs, traits do the work of sharing code.
This may be old hat for a C# developer, but I'm having a lot of fun using traits to fit in my custom types into the language with traits:
Want to create a custom display type for your type to show users? There is a trait for that:
use std::fmt::{Display, Formatter};
pub struct JabberWocky {
face: String,
body: char,
}
impl Display for JabberWocky {
fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> Result<(), std::fmt::Error> {
write!(f, "{}-{}=<", self.face, self.body)
}
}
#[test]
fn test_jabberwocky_display() {
let jb = JabberWocky { face: '👹'.to_string(), body: '🦎'};
assert_eq!(format!("{}", jb), "👹-🦎=<");
}
Want to override the plus sign for your type? Trait:
impl Add for JabberWocky {
type Output = Self;
fn add(self, rhs: Self) -> Self::Output {
let heads = self.face + &rhs.face;
Self { face: heads, body: self.body }
}
}
#[test]
fn test_jabberwocky_add() {
let joe = JabberWocky { face: '👹'.to_string(), body: '🦎'};
let bob = JabberWocky { face: '🦊'.to_string(), body: '🐋'};
let joe_bob = joe + bob;
assert_eq!(format!("{}", joe_bob), "👹🦊-🦎=<");
}
Want to create conversions of another type to your type? First try it:
impl From<(char, char)> for JabberWocky { }
#[test]
fn test_jabberwocky_from_tuple() {
let hollis: JabberWocky = ('👽','🦗').into();
assert_eq!(format!("{}", hollis), "👽-🦗=<");
}
and read the error message:
error[E0277]: the trait bound `JabberWocky: From<(char, char)>` is not satisfied
--> src/jabberwocky.rs:27:41
|
27 | let hollis: JabberWocky = ('👽','🦗').into();
| ^^^^ the trait `From<(char, char)>` is not implemented for `JabberWocky`
|
= note: required because of the requirements on the impl of `Into<JabberWocky>` for `(char, char)`
and then do what it says:
impl From<(char, char)> for JabberWocky {
fn from(tuple: (char, char)) -> Self {
Self { face: tuple.0.to_string(), body: tuple.1 }
}
}
Want to compare your structs? If all struct members implement the PartialEq trait, you can simply derive the PartialEq trait, and compare by comparing all struct members:
#[derive(PartialEq)]
pub struct JabberWocky {
face: String,
body: char,
}
#[test]
fn test_equal() {
assert!(JabberWocky::from(('🐸', '🐋')) == JabberWocky::from(('🐸', '🐋')));
assert!(JabberWocky::from(('🐸', '🐋')) != JabberWocky::from(('🧟', '🫀')));
}
Want to add default functionality to your type from a third party crate? Just bring the trait in scope. Here is an Advent of Code solution thanks to the Itertools::tuple_windows function:
use itertools::Itertools;
fn main() {
println!("{:?}", part_2());
}
fn part_2() -> u32 {
include_str!("input.txt")
.lines()
.map(str::parse::<u32>)
.map(Result::unwrap)
.tuple_windows::<(_, _, _)>()
.map(|window| window.0 + window.1 + window.2)
.tuple_windows::<(_, _)>()
.fold(
0,
|acc, (first, second): (u32, u32)| {
if first < second {
acc + 1
} else {
acc
}
},
)
}
Where can you find all this information about traits about the standard library and other libraries? This is all readily accessible thanks to Rust's great story around...
6. Documentation
Documentation is not a beloved part about programming. For example, Kent Beck dedicates a few paragraphs in his Extreme Programming Explained to explain why keeping up documentation is a burden for development teams without much benefit.
Rust changes the balance of that equation.
First, any Rust project can make an HTML site of documentation by running cargo doc --open.
At a minimum, the documentation will have all the function signatures of the public functions, traits, and structs of your modules. It will also put any comments with /// or //! in there as well. It will also have links to documentation to all your dependencies.
You can even include code snippets to show how to use your library. Those code snippets can even automatically be run as tests with cargo test!
All libraries hosted on crates.io, Rust's public package registry, automatically have their documentation hosted on docs.rs.
Conclusion
Despite its steep learning curve (we've just scratched the surface here), underneath is a language that sets developers up for success by taking traditionally hidden assumptions about a system, like when null is returned or when errors are thrown, and putting them in the type system, where the compiler is able to point out errors before the program runs. While not covered here, this guarantee extends to other tricky areas, like multi-threaded code and memory management. On top of this, all this info can easily be shared, thanks to its out-of-the-box documentation tools.