Book Image

Hands-On Functional Programming in Rust

By : Andrew Johnson
Book Image

Hands-On Functional Programming in Rust

By: Andrew Johnson

Overview of this book

Functional programming allows developers to divide programs into smaller, reusable components that ease the creation, testing, and maintenance of software as a whole. Combined with the power of Rust, you can develop robust and scalable applications that fulfill modern day software requirements. This book will help you discover all the Rust features that can be used to build software in a functional way. We begin with a brief comparison of the functional and object-oriented approach to different problems and patterns. We then quickly look at the patterns of control flow, data the abstractions of these unique to functional programming. The next part covers how to create functional apps in Rust; mutability and ownership, which are exclusive to Rust, are also discussed. Pure functions are examined next and you'll master closures, their various types, and currying. We also look at implementing concurrency through functional design principles and metaprogramming using macros. Finally, we look at best practices for debugging and optimization. By the end of the book, you will be familiar with the functional approach of programming and will be able to use these techniques on a daily basis.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

Mutability, Ownership, and Pure Functions

  1. What does Rc stand for?

Rc stands for Reference Counted.

  1. What does Arc stand for?

Arc stands for Atomically Reference Counted.

  1. What is a weak reference?

A weak reference is a reference that is not reference counted or otherwise managed.

  1. Which superpowers are enabled in unsafe blocks?

In an unsafe block, you can dereference a raw pointer, call an unsafe function or method, access or modify a mutable static variable, or implement and unsafe trait.

  1. When will an object be dropped?

An object will be dropped when its owner is dropped or goes out of scope.

  1. What is the difference between lifetimes and ownership?

Lifetimes are a compile-time check. Ownership is a compile-time as well as runtime concept. Both concepts describe the tracking of variables, values, and whether and who uses them.

  1. How can you be sure that a function is...