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Stop making me memorize the borrow checker

(erikmcclure.com)
177 points signa11 | 2 comments | 16 Nov 24 23:29 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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kstrauser ◴[17 Nov 24 00:22 UTC] No.42160831[source]▶
Rust was a pain in the ass until I stopped trying to write C code in it and started writing idiomatic Rust. I don’t know the author of this blog, but he mentions extensive C++ experience which makes me wonder if he’s trying to write C++ in Rust.

Maybe not! Maybe it’s truly just Rust being stubborn and difficult. However, it’s such an easy trap to fall into that I’ve gotta think it’s at least possible.

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maguirre ◴[17 Nov 24 00:24 UTC] No.42160844[source]▶
Are there examples one can learn from about idiomatic rust? I would appreciate either books or projects to learn from.
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1. zeta0134 ◴[17 Nov 24 00:53 UTC] No.42161001[source]▶
Generally I have the easiest time when I declare my state in the outermost scope possible, and then pass it into functions that need to operate on it. If I'm using an actual pointer, rather than a mutable reference that came in as an argument, something weird is happening! Usually that's the interface with some external library.

Rust in particular is *really* obnoxiously bad at OOP patterns, and I think my lesson at this point is that this is because it is hard to do OOP safely, at least in a way that jives with its borrow checker. Something like functional core, imperative shell seems to be a much nicer flow for the thing in general.

Anyway, I've just got the one major Rust project (an NES emulator) so I'd say I'm pretty early in my Rust journey. For me personally, the good points (delightful match, powerful enum) outweigh the bad (occasional borrow checker weirdness, frustrating lifetimes) but I think it depends a lot on what you're trying to do with it.

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2. ijustlovemath ◴[17 Nov 24 01:04 UTC] No.42161062[source]▶
You can achieve some level of OO design by using traits (the generic kind, not the dyn kind), but I think the functional style and inline testing gives you a ton of nice properties for free!

Rust also pushes you to refactor in a way that really pulls out the core of your problem; the refactoring is just you understanding the problem at a deeper level (in my experience)