From BeepingComputer.

  • Michael Murphy (S76)@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    The compiler enforces “aliasing XOR mutability”; utilizes “move semantics”; has a “borrowing and ownership” model; and requires the programmer to tag their references with “lifetimes”. Array accesses are checked at runtime if they cannot be guaranteed safe at compile-time. Variables passed by value (moved) cannot be reused. Variables cannot be moved or mutated if any borrow to them exists. You may either have only one mutable borrow, or many immutable borrows, but never both. Therefore you cannot mutate an array while iterating on it, and you cannot have two separate unchecked references to the same array. Every function or type that accepts a borrow must be able to annotate the lifetimes of references to ensure that references are always dropped in the correct order to prevent dangling references. Rust requires developing software with discipline using patterns that satisfy all of these constraints.