
[TOC]

# Common Programming Concepts

This chapter covers concepts that appear in almost every programming language
and how they work in Rust. Many programming languages have much in common at
their core. None of the concepts presented in this chapter are unique to Rust,
but we’ll discuss them in the context of Rust and explain their conventions.

Specifically, you’ll learn about variables, basic types, functions, comments,
and control flow. These foundations will be in every Rust program, and learning
them early will give you a strong core to start from.

> ### Keywords
>
> The Rust language has a set of *keywords* that have been reserved for use by
> the language only, much like other languages do. Keep in mind that you cannot
> use these words as names of variables or functions. Most of the keywords have
> special meanings, and you’ll be using them to do various tasks in your Rust
> programs; a few have no current functionality associated with them but have
> been reserved for functionality that might be added to Rust in the future. You
> can find a list of the keywords in Appendix A.

## Variables and Mutability

As mentioned in Chapter 2, by default variables are *immutable*. This is one of
many nudges in Rust that encourages you to write your code in a way that takes
advantage of the safety and easy concurrency that Rust offers. However, you
still have the option to make your variables mutable. Let’s explore how and why
Rust encourages you to favor immutability, and why you might want to opt out.

When a variable is immutable, that means once a value is bound to a name, you
can’t change that value. To illustrate, let’s generate a new project called
*variables* in your *projects* directory by using `cargo new --bin variables`.

Then, in your new *variables* directory, open *src/main.rs* and replace its
code with the following:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let x = 5;
    println!("The value of x is: {}", x);
    x = 6;
    println!("The value of x is: {}", x);
}
```

Save and run the program using `cargo run`. You should receive an error
message, as shown in this output:

```
error[E0384]: re-assignment of immutable variable `x`
 --> src/main.rs:4:5
  |
2 |     let x = 5;
  |         - first assignment to `x`
3 |     println!("The value of x is: {}", x);
4 |     x = 6;
  |     ^^^^^ re-assignment of immutable variable
```

This example shows how the compiler helps you find errors in your programs.
Even though compiler errors can be frustrating, they only mean your program
isn’t safely doing what you want it to do yet; they do *not* mean that you’re
not a good programmer! Experienced Rustaceans still get compiler errors. The
error indicates that the cause of the error is `re-assignment of immutable
variable`, because we tried to assign a second value to the immutable `x`
variable.

It’s important that we get compile-time errors when we attempt to change a
value that we previously designated as immutable because this very situation
can lead to bugs. If one part of our code operates on the assumption that a
value will never change and another part of our code changes that value, it’s
possible that the first part of the code won’t do what it was designed to do.
This cause of bugs can be difficult to track down after the fact, especially
when the second piece of code changes the value only *sometimes*.

In Rust the compiler guarantees that when we state that a value won’t change,
it really won’t change. That means that when you’re reading and writing code,
you don’t have to keep track of how and where a value might change, which can
make code easier to reason about.

But mutability can be very useful. Variables are immutable only by default; we
can make them mutable by adding `mut` in front of the variable name. In
addition to allowing this value to change, it conveys intent to future readers
of the code by indicating that other parts of the code will be changing this
variable value.

For example, change *src/main.rs* to the following:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let mut x = 5;
    println!("The value of x is: {}", x);
    x = 6;
    println!("The value of x is: {}", x);
}
```

When we run this program, we get the following:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling variables v0.1.0 (file:///projects/variables)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.30 secs
     Running `target/debug/variables`
The value of x is: 5
The value of x is: 6
```

Using `mut`, we’re allowed to change the value that `x` binds to from `5` to
`6`. In some cases, you’ll want to make a variable mutable because it makes the
code more convenient to write than an implementation that only uses immutable
variables.

There are multiple trade-offs to consider, in addition to the prevention of
bugs. For example, in cases where you’re using large data structures, mutating
an instance in place may be faster than copying and returning newly allocated
instances. With smaller data structures, creating new instances and writing in
a more functional programming style may be easier to reason about, so the lower
performance might be a worthwhile penalty for gaining that clarity.

### Differences Between Variables and Constants

Being unable to change the value of a variable might have reminded you of
another programming concept that most other languages have: *constants*. Like
immutable variables, constants are also values  that are bound to a name and
are not allowed to change, but there are a few differences between constants
and variables.

First, we aren’t allowed to use `mut` with constants: constants aren’t only
immutable by default, they’re always immutable.

We declare constants using the `const` keyword instead of the `let` keyword,
and the type of the value *must* be annotated. We’re about to cover types and
type annotations in the next section, “Data Types,” so don’t worry about the
details right now, just know that we must always annotate the type.

Constants can be declared in any scope, including the global scope, which makes
them useful for values that many parts of code need to know about.

The last difference is that constants may only be set to a constant expression,
not the result of a function call or any other value that could only be
computed at runtime.

Here’s an example of a constant declaration where the constant’s name is
`MAX_POINTS` and its value is set to 100,000. (Rust constant naming convention
is to use all upper case with underscores between words):

```
const MAX_POINTS: u32 = 100_000;
```

Constants are valid for the entire time a program runs, within the scope they
were declared in, making them a useful choice for values in your application
domain that multiple parts of the program might need to know about, such as the
maximum number of points any player of a game is allowed to earn or the speed
of light.

Naming hardcoded values used throughout your program as constants is useful in
conveying the meaning of that value to future maintainers of the code. It also
helps to have only one place in your code you would need to change if the
hardcoded value needed to be updated in the future.

### Shadowing

As we saw in the guessing game tutorial in Chapter 2, we can declare a new
variable with the same name as a previous variable, and the new variable
*shadows* the previous variable. Rustaceans say that the first variable is
*shadowed* by the second, which means that the second variable’s value is what
we’ll see when we use the variable. We can shadow a variable by using the same
variable’s name and repeating the use of the `let` keyword as follows:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let x = 5;

    let x = x + 1;

    let x = x * 2;

    println!("The value of x is: {}", x);
}
```

This program first binds `x` to a value of `5`. Then it shadows `x` by
repeating `let x =`, taking the original value and adding `1` so the value of
`x` is then `6`. The third `let` statement also shadows `x`, taking the
previous value and multiplying it by `2` to give `x` a final value of `12`.
When you run this program, it will output the following:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling variables v0.1.0 (file:///projects/variables)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.31 secs
     Running `target/debug/variables`
The value of x is: 12
```

This is different than marking a variable as `mut`, because unless we use the
`let` keyword again, we’ll get a compile-time error if we accidentally try to
reassign to this variable. We can perform a few transformations on a value but
have the variable be immutable after those transformations have been completed.

The other difference between `mut` and shadowing is that because we’re
effectively creating a new variable when we use the `let` keyword again, we can
change the type of the value, but reuse the same name. For example, say our
program asks a user to show how many spaces they want between some text by
inputting space characters, but we really want to store that input as a number:

```
let spaces = "   ";
let spaces = spaces.len();
```

This construct is allowed because the first `spaces` variable is a string type,
and the second `spaces` variable, which is a brand-new variable that happens to
have the same name as the first one, is a number type. Shadowing thus spares us
from having to come up with different names, like `spaces_str` and
`spaces_num`; instead, we can reuse the simpler `spaces` name. However, if we
try to use `mut` for this, as shown here:

```
let mut spaces = "   ";
spaces = spaces.len();
```

we’ll get a compile-time error because we’re not allowed to mutate a variable’s
type:

```
error[E0308]: mismatched types
 --> src/main.rs:3:14
  |
3 |     spaces = spaces.len();
  |              ^^^^^^^^^^^^ expected &str, found usize
  |
  = note: expected type `&str`
             found type `usize`
```

Now that we’ve explored how variables work, let’s look at more data types they
can have.

## Data Types

Every value in Rust is of a certain *type*, which tells Rust what kind of data
is being specified so it knows how to work with that data. In this section,
we’ll look at a number of types that are built into the language. We split the
types into two subsets: scalar and compound.

Throughout this section, keep in mind that Rust is a *statically typed*
language, which means that it must know the types of all variables at compile
time. The compiler can usually infer what type we want to use based on the
value and how we use it. In cases when many types are possible, such as when we
converted a `String` to a numeric type using `parse` in Chapter 2, we must add
a type annotation, like this:

```
let guess: u32 = "42".parse().expect("Not a number!");
```

If we don’t add the type annotation here, Rust will display the following
error, which means the compiler needs more information from us to know which
possible type we want to use:

```
error[E0282]: type annotations needed
 --> src/main.rs:2:9
  |
2 |     let guess = "42".parse().expect("Not a number!");
  |         ^^^^^
  |         |
  |         cannot infer type for `_`
  |         consider giving `guess` a type
```

You’ll see different type annotations as we discuss the various data types.

### Scalar Types

A *scalar* type represents a single value. Rust has four primary scalar types:
integers, floating-point numbers, booleans, and characters. You’ll likely
recognize these from other programming languages, but let’s jump into how they
work in Rust.

#### Integer Types

An *integer* is a number without a fractional component. We used one integer
type earlier in this chapter, the `u32` type. This type declaration indicates
that the value it’s associated with should be an unsigned integer (signed
integer types start with `i` instead of `u`) that takes up 32 bits of space.
Table 3-1 shows the built-in integer types in Rust. Each variant in the Signed
and Unsigned columns (for example, *i16*) can be used to declare the type of an
integer value.

Table 3-1: Integer Types in Rust

| Length | Signed | Unsigned |
|--------|--------|----------|
| 8-bit  | i8     | u8       |
| 16-bit | i16    | u16      |
| 32-bit | i32    | u32      |
| 64-bit | i64    | u64      |
| arch   | isize  | usize    |

Each variant can be either signed or unsigned and has an explicit size.
Signed and unsigned refers to whether it’s possible for the number to be
negative or positive; in other words, whether the number needs to have a sign
with it (signed) or whether it will only ever be positive and can therefore be
represented without a sign (unsigned). It’s like writing numbers on paper: when
the sign matters, a number is shown with a plus sign or a minus sign; however,
when it’s safe to assume the number is positive, it’s shown with no sign.
Signed numbers are stored using two’s complement representation (if you’re
unsure what this is, you can search for it online; an explanation is outside
the scope of this book).

Each signed variant can store numbers from -(2n - 1) to 2n -
1 - 1 inclusive, where `n` is the number of bits that variant uses. So an
`i8` can store numbers from -(27) to 27 - 1, which equals
-128 to 127. Unsigned variants can store numbers from 0 to 2n - 1,
so a `u8` can store numbers from 0 to 28 - 1, which equals 0 to 255.

Additionally, the `isize` and `usize` types depend on the kind of computer your
program is running on: 64-bits if you’re on a 64-bit architecture and 32-bits
if you’re on a 32-bit architecture.

You can write integer literals in any of the forms shown in Table 3-2. Note
that all number literals except the byte literal allow a type suffix, such as
`57u8`, and `_` as a visual separator, such as `1_000`.

Table 3-2: Integer Literals in Rust

| Number literals  | Example       |
|------------------|---------------|
| Decimal          | `98_222`      |
| Hex              | `0xff`        |
| Octal            | `0o77`        |
| Binary           | `0b1111_0000` |
| Byte (`u8` only) | `b'A'`        |

So how do you know which type of integer to use? If you’re unsure, Rust’s
defaults are generally good choices, and integer types default to `i32`: it’s
generally the fastest, even on 64-bit systems. The primary situation in which
you’d use `isize` or `usize` is when indexing some sort of collection.

#### Floating-Point Types

Rust also has two primitive types for *floating-point numbers*, which are
numbers with decimal points. Rust’s floating-point types are `f32` and `f64`,
which are 32 bits and 64 bits in size, respectively. The default type is `f64`
because on modern CPUs it’s roughly the same speed as `f32` but is capable of
more precision.

Here’s an example that shows floating-point numbers in action:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let x = 2.0; // f64

    let y: f32 = 3.0; // f32
}
```

Floating-point numbers are represented according to the IEEE-754 standard. The
`f32` type is a single-precision float, and `f64` has double precision.

#### Numeric Operations

Rust supports the usual basic mathematical operations you’d expect for all of the
number types: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and remainder.
The following code shows how you’d use each one in a `let` statement:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    // addition
    let sum = 5 + 10;

    // subtraction
    let difference = 95.5 - 4.3;

    // multiplication
    let product = 4 * 30;

    // division
    let quotient = 56.7 / 32.2;

    // remainder
    let remainder = 43 % 5;
}
```

Each expression in these statements uses a mathematical operator and evaluates
to a single value, which is then bound to a variable. Appendix B contains a
list of all operators that Rust provides.

#### The Boolean Type

As in most other programming languages, a boolean type in Rust has two possible
values: `true` and `false`. The boolean type in Rust is specified using `bool`.
For example:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let t = true;

    let f: bool = false; // with explicit type annotation
}
```

The main way to consume boolean values is through conditionals, such as an `if`
expression. We’ll cover how `if` expressions work in Rust in the “Control Flow”
section.

#### The Character Type

So far we’ve only worked with numbers, but Rust supports letters too. Rust’s
`char` type is the language’s most primitive alphabetic type, and the following
code shows one way to use it. Note that the `char` type is specified with
single quotes, as opposed to strings that use double quotes:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
   let c = 'z';
   let z = 'ℤ';
   let heart_eyed_cat = '😻';
}
```

Rust’s `char` type represents a Unicode Scalar Value, which means it can
represent a lot more than just ASCII. Accented letters, Chinese/Japanese/Korean
ideographs, emoji, and zero width spaces are all valid `char` types in Rust.
Unicode Scalar Values range from `U+0000` to `U+D7FF` and `U+E000` to
`U+10FFFF` inclusive. However, a “character” isn’t really a concept in Unicode,
so your human intuition for what a “character” is may not match up with what a
`char` is in Rust. We’ll discuss this topic in detail in the “Strings” section
in Chapter 8.

### Compound Types

*Compound types* can group multiple values of other types into one type. Rust
has two primitive compound types: tuples and arrays.

#### Grouping Values into Tuples

A tuple is a general way of grouping together some number of other values with
a variety of types into one compound type.

We create a tuple by writing a comma-separated list of values inside
parentheses. Each position in the tuple has a type, and the types of the
different values in the tuple don’t have to be the same. We’ve added optional
type annotations in this example:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let tup: (i32, f64, u8) = (500, 6.4, 1);
}
```

The variable `tup` binds to the entire tuple, since a tuple is considered a
single compound element. To get the individual values out of a tuple, we can
use pattern matching to destructure a tuple value, like this:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let tup = (500, 6.4, 1);

    let (x, y, z) = tup;

    println!("The value of y is: {}", y);
}
```

This program first creates a tuple and binds it to the variable `tup`. It then
uses a pattern with `let` to take `tup` and turn it into three separate
variables, `x`, `y`, and `z`. This is called *destructuring*, because it breaks
the single tuple into three parts. Finally, the program prints the value of
`y`, which is `6.4`.

In addition to destructuring through pattern matching, we can also access a
tuple element directly by using a period (`.`) followed by the index of the
value we want to access. For example:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let x: (i32, f64, u8) = (500, 6.4, 1);

    let five_hundred = x.0;

    let six_point_four = x.1;

    let one = x.2;
}
```

This program creates a tuple, `x`, and then makes new variables for each
element by using their index. As with most programming languages, the first
index in a tuple is 0.

#### Arrays

Another way to have a collection of multiple values is with an *array*. Unlike
a tuple, every element of an array must have the same type. Arrays in Rust are
different than arrays in some other languages because arrays in Rust have a
fixed length: once declared, they cannot grow or shrink in size.

In Rust, the values going into an array are written as a comma-separated list
inside square brackets:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
}
```

Arrays are useful when you want your data allocated on the stack rather than
the heap (we will discuss the stack and the heap more in Chapter 4), or when
you want to ensure you always have a fixed number of elements. They aren’t as
flexible as the vector type, though. The vector type is a similar collection
type provided by the standard library that *is* allowed to grow or shrink in
size. If you’re unsure whether to use an array or a vector, you should probably
use a vector: Chapter 8 discusses vectors in more detail.

An example of when you might want to use an array rather than a vector is in a
program that needs to know the names of the months of the year. It’s very
unlikely that such a program will need to add or remove months, so you can use
an array because you know it will always contain 12 items:

```
let months = ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July",
              "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"];
```

##### Accessing Array Elements

An array is a single chunk of memory allocated on the stack. We can access
elements of an array using indexing, like this:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];

    let first = a[0];
    let second = a[1];
}
```

In this example, the variable named `first` will get the value `1`, because
that is the value at index `[0]` in the array. The variable named `second` will
get the value `2` from index `[1]` in the array.

##### Invalid Array Element Access

What happens if we try to access an element of an array that is past the end of
the array? Say we change the example to the following:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
    let index = 10;

    let element = a[index];

    println!("The value of element is: {}", element);
}
```

Running this code using `cargo run` produces the following result:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling arrays v0.1.0 (file:///projects/arrays)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.31 secs
     Running `target/debug/arrays`
thread '<main>' panicked at 'index out of bounds: the len is 5 but the index is
 10', src/main.rs:6
note: Run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` for a backtrace.
```

The compilation didn’t produce any errors, but the program results in a
*runtime* error and didn’t exit successfully. When you attempt to access an
element using indexing, Rust will check that the index you’ve specified is less
than the array length. If the index is greater than the length, Rust will
*panic*, which is the term Rust uses when a program exits with an error.

This is the first example of Rust’s safety principles in action. In many
low-level languages, this kind of check is not done, and when you provide an
incorrect index, invalid memory can be accessed. Rust protects you against this
kind of error by immediately exiting instead of allowing the memory access and
continuing. Chapter 9 discusses more of Rust’s error handling.

## How Functions Work

Functions are pervasive in Rust code. You’ve already seen one of the most
important functions in the language: the `main` function, which is the entry
point of many programs. You’ve also seen the `fn` keyword, which allows you to
declare new functions.

Rust code uses *snake case* as the conventional style for function and variable
names. In snake case, all letters are lowercase and underscores separate words.
Here’s a program that contains an example function definition:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    println!("Hello, world!");

    another_function();
}

fn another_function() {
    println!("Another function.");
}
```

Function definitions in Rust start with `fn` and have a set of parentheses
after the function name. The curly brackets tell the compiler where the
function body begins and ends.

We can call any function we’ve defined by entering its name followed by a set
of parentheses. Because `another_function` is defined in the program, it can be
called from inside the `main` function. Note that we defined `another_function`
*after* the `main` function in the source code; we could have defined it before
as well. Rust doesn’t care where you define your functions, only that they’re
defined somewhere.

Let’s start a new binary project named *functions* to explore functions
further. Place the `another_function` example in *src/main.rs* and run it. You
should see the following output:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling functions v0.1.0 (file:///projects/functions)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.28 secs
     Running `target/debug/functions`
Hello, world!
Another function.
```

The lines execute in the order in which they appear in the `main` function.
First, the “Hello, world!” message prints, and then `another_function` is
called and its message is printed.

### Function Parameters

Functions can also be defined to have *parameters*, which are special variables
that are part of a function’s signature. When a function has parameters, we can
provide it with concrete values for those parameters. Technically, the concrete
values are called *arguments*, but in casual conversation people tend to use
the words “parameter” and “argument” interchangeably for either the variables
in a function’s definition or the concrete values passed in when you call a
function.

The following rewritten version of `another_function` shows what parameters
look like in Rust:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    another_function(5);
}

fn another_function(x: i32) {
    println!("The value of x is: {}", x);
}
```

Try running this program; you should get the following output:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling functions v0.1.0 (file:///projects/functions)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 1.21 secs
     Running `target/debug/functions`
The value of x is: 5
```

The declaration of `another_function` has one parameter named `x`. The type of
`x` is specified as `i32`. When `5` is passed to `another_function`, the
`println!` macro puts `5` where the pair of curly brackets were in the format
string.

In function signatures, you *must* declare the type of each parameter. This is
a deliberate decision in Rust’s design: requiring type annotations in function
definitions means the compiler almost never needs you to use them elsewhere in
the code to figure out what you mean.

When you want a function to have multiple parameters, separate the parameter
declarations with commas, like this:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    another_function(5, 6);
}

fn another_function(x: i32, y: i32) {
    println!("The value of x is: {}", x);
    println!("The value of y is: {}", y);
}
```

This example creates a function with two parameters, both of which are `i32`
types. The function then prints out the values in both of its parameters. Note
that function parameters don’t all need to be the same type, they just happen
to be in this example.

Let’s try running this code. Replace the program currently in your *function*
project’s *src/main.rs* file with the preceding example, and run it using
`cargo run`:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling functions v0.1.0 (file:///projects/functions)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.31 secs
     Running `target/debug/functions`
The value of x is: 5
The value of y is: 6
```

Because we called the function with `5` as the value for  `x` and `6` is passed
as the value for `y`, the two strings are printed with these values.

### Function Bodies

Function bodies are made up of a series of statements optionally ending in an
expression. So far, we’ve only covered functions without an ending expression,
but we have seen expressions as parts of statements. Because Rust is an
expression-based language, this is an important distinction to understand.
Other languages don’t have the same distinctions, so let’s look at what
statements and expressions are and how their differences affect the bodies of
functions.

### Statements and Expressions

We’ve actually already used statements and expressions. *Statements* are
instructions that perform some action and do not return a value. *Expressions*
evaluate to a resulting value. Let’s look at some examples.

Creating a variable and assigning a value to it with the `let` keyword is a
statement. In Listing 3-3, `let y = 6;` is a statement:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let y = 6;
}
```

Listing 3-3: A `main` function declaration containing one statement.

Function definitions are also statements; the entire preceding example is a
statement in itself.

Statements do not return values. Therefore, you can’t assign a `let` statement
to another variable, as the following code tries to do:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let x = (let y = 6);
}
```

When you run this program, you’ll get an error like this:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling functions v0.1.0 (file:///projects/functions)
error: expected expression, found statement (`let`)
 --> src/main.rs:2:14
  |
2 |     let x = (let y = 6);
  |              ^^^
  |
  = note: variable declaration using `let` is a statement
```

The `let y = 6` statement does not return a value, so there isn’t anything for
`x` to bind to. This is different than in other languages, such as C and Ruby,
where the assignment returns the value of the assignment. In those languages,
you can write `x = y = 6` and have both `x` and `y` have the value `6`; that is
not the case in Rust.

Expressions evaluate to something and make up most of the rest of the code that
you’ll write in Rust. Consider a simple math operation, such as `5 + 6`, which
is an expression that evaluates to the value `11`. Expressions can be part of
statements: in Listing 3-3 that had the statement `let y = 6;`, `6` is an
expression that evaluates to the value `6`. Calling a function is an
expression. Calling a macro is an expression. The block that we use to create
new scopes, `{}`, is an expression, for example:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let x = 5;

    let y = {
        let x = 3;
        x + 1
    };

    println!("The value of y is: {}", y);
}
```

This expression:

```
{
    let x = 3;
    x + 1
}
```

is a block that, in this case, evaluates to `4`. That value gets bound to `y`
as part of the `let` statement. Note the `x + 1` line without a semicolon at
the end, unlike most of the lines you’ve seen so far. Expressions do not
include ending semicolons. If you add a semicolon to the end of an expression,
you turn it into a statement, which will then not return a value. Keep this in
mind as you explore function return values and expressions next.

### Functions with Return Values

Functions can return values to the code that calls them. We don’t name return
values, but we do declare their type after an arrow (`->`). In Rust, the return
value of the function is synonymous with the value of the final expression in
the block of the body of a function. You can return early from a function by
using the `return` keyword and specifying a value, but most functions return
the last expression implicitly. Here’s an example of a function that returns a
value:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn five() -> i32 {
    5
}

fn main() {
    let x = five();

    println!("The value of x is: {}", x);
}
```

There are no function calls, macros, or even `let` statements in the `five`
function—just the number `5` by itself. That’s a perfectly valid function in
Rust. Note that the function’s return type is specified, too, as `-> i32`. Try
running this code; the output should look like this:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling functions v0.1.0 (file:///projects/functions)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.30 secs
     Running `target/debug/functions`
The value of x is: 5
```

The `5` in `five` is the function’s return value, which is why the return type
is `i32`. Let’s examine this in more detail. There are two important bits:
first, the line `let x = five();` shows that we’re using the return value of a
function to initialize a variable. Because the function `five` returns a `5`,
that line is the same as the following:

```
let x = 5;
```

Second, the `five` function has no parameters and defines the type of the
return value, but the body of the function is a lonely `5` with no semicolon
because it’s an expression whose value we want to return. Let’s look at another
example:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let x = plus_one(5);

    println!("The value of x is: {}", x);
}

fn plus_one(x: i32) -> i32 {
    x + 1
}
```

Running this code will print `The value of x is: 6`. What happens if we place a
semicolon at the end of the line containing `x + 1`, changing it from an
expression to a statement?

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let x = plus_one(5);

    println!("The value of x is: {}", x);
}

fn plus_one(x: i32) -> i32 {
    x + 1;
}
```

Running this code produces an error, as follows:

```
error[E0308]: mismatched types
 --> src/main.rs:7:28
  |
7 |   fn plus_one(x: i32) -> i32 {
  |  ____________________________^
8 | |     x + 1;
  | |          - help: consider removing this semicolon
9 | | }
  | |_^ expected i32, found ()
  |
  = note: expected type `i32`
             found type `()`
```

The main error message, “mismatched types,” reveals the core issue with this
code. The definition of the function `plus_one` says that it will return an
`i32`, but statements don’t evaluate to a value, which is expressed by `()`,
the empty tuple. Therefore, nothing is returned, which contradicts the function
definition and results in an error. In this output, Rust provides a message to
possibly help rectify this issue: it suggests removing the semicolon, which
would fix the error.

## Comments

All programmers strive to make their code easy to understand, but sometimes
extra explanation is warranted. In these cases, programmers leave notes, or
*comments*, in their source code that the compiler will ignore but people
reading the source code may find useful.

Here’s a simple comment:

```
// Hello, world.
```

In Rust, comments must start with two slashes and continue until the end of the
line. For comments that extend beyond a single line, you’ll need to include
`//` on each line, like this:

```
// So we’re doing something complicated here, long enough that we need
// multiple lines of comments to do it! Whew! Hopefully, this comment will
// explain what’s going on.
```

Comments can also be placed at the end of lines containing code:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let lucky_number = 7; // I’m feeling lucky today.
}
```

But you’ll more often see them used in this format, with the comment on a
separate line above the code it’s annotating:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    // I’m feeling lucky today.
    let lucky_number = 7;
}
```

Rust also has another kind of comment, documentation comments, which we’ll
discuss in Chapter 14.

## Control Flow

Deciding whether or not to run some code depending on if a condition is true or
deciding to run some code repeatedly while a condition is true are basic
building blocks in most programming languages. The most common constructs that
let you control the flow of execution of Rust code are `if` expressions and
loops.

### `if` Expressions

An `if` expression allows us to branch our code depending on conditions. We
provide a condition and then state, “If this condition is met, run this block
of code. If the condition is not met, do not run this block of code.”

Create a new project called *branches* in your *projects* directory to explore
the `if` expression. In the *src/main.rs* file, input the following:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let number = 3;

    if number < 5 {
        println!("condition was true");
    } else {
        println!("condition was false");
    }
}
```



All `if` expressions start with the keyword `if`, which is followed by a
condition. In this case, the condition checks whether or not the variable
`number` has a value less than 5. The block of code we want to execute if the
condition is true is placed immediately after the condition inside curly
brackets. Blocks of code associated with the conditions in `if` expressions are
sometimes called *arms*, just like the arms in `match` expressions that we
discussed in the “Comparing the Guess to the Secret Number” section of
Chapter 2. Optionally, we can also include an `else` expression, which we chose
to do here, to give the program an alternative block of code to execute should
the condition evaluate to false. If you don’t provide an `else` expression and
the condition is false, the program will just skip the `if` block and move on
to the next bit of code.

Try running this code; you should see the following output:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling branches v0.1.0 (file:///projects/branches)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.31 secs
     Running `target/debug/branches`
condition was true
```

Let’s try changing the value of `number` to a value that makes the condition
`false` to see what happens:

```
let number = 7;
```

Run the program again, and look at the output:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling branches v0.1.0 (file:///projects/branches)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.31 secs
     Running `target/debug/branches`
condition was false
```

It’s also worth noting that the condition in this code *must* be a `bool`. To
see what happens if the condition isn’t a `bool`, try running the following
code:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let number = 3;

    if number {
        println!("number was three");
    }
}
```

The `if` condition evaluates to a value of `3` this time, and Rust throws an
error:

```
error[E0308]: mismatched types
 --> src/main.rs:4:8
  |
4 |     if number {
  |        ^^^^^^ expected bool, found integral variable
  |
  = note: expected type `bool`
             found type `{integer}`
```

The error indicates that Rust expected a `bool` but got an integer. Rust will
not automatically try to convert non-boolean types to a boolean, unlike
languages such as Ruby and JavaScript. You must be explicit and always provide
`if` with a `boolean` as its condition. If we want the `if` code block to run
only when a number is not equal to `0`, for example, we can change the `if`
expression to the following:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let number = 3;

    if number != 0 {
        println!("number was something other than zero");
    }
}
```

Running this code will print `number was something other than zero`.

#### Multiple Conditions with `else if`

We can have multiple conditions by combining `if` and `else` in an `else if`
expression. For example:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let number = 6;

    if number % 4 == 0 {
        println!("number is divisible by 4");
    } else if number % 3 == 0 {
        println!("number is divisible by 3");
    } else if number % 2 == 0 {
        println!("number is divisible by 2");
    } else {
        println!("number is not divisible by 4, 3, or 2");
    }
}
```

This program has four possible paths it can take. After running it, you should
see the following output:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling branches v0.1.0 (file:///projects/branches)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.31 secs
     Running `target/debug/branches`
number is divisible by 3
```

When this program executes, it checks each `if` expression in turn and executes
the first body for which the condition holds true. Note that even though 6 is
divisible by 2, we don’t see the output `number is divisible by 2`, nor do we
see the `number is not divisible by 4, 3, or 2` text from the `else` block. The
reason is that Rust will only execute the block for the first true condition,
and once it finds one, it won’t even check the rest.

Using too many `else if` expressions can clutter your code, so if you have more
than one, you might want to refactor your code. Chapter 6 describes a powerful
Rust branching construct called `match` for these cases.

#### Using `if` in a `let` statement

Because `if` is an expression, we can use it on the right side of a `let`
statement, for instance in Listing 3-4:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let condition = true;
    let number = if condition {
        5
    } else {
        6
    };

    println!("The value of number is: {}", number);
}
```

Listing 3-4: Assigning the result of an `if` expression
to a variable

The `number` variable will be bound to a value based on the outcome of the `if`
expression. Run this code to see what happens:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling branches v0.1.0 (file:///projects/branches)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.30 secs
     Running `target/debug/branches`
The value of number is: 5
```

Remember that blocks of code evaluate to the last expression in them, and
numbers by themselves are also expressions. In this case, the value of the
whole `if` expression depends on which block of code executes. This means the
values that have the potential to be results from each arm of the `if` must be
the same type; in Listing 3-4, the results of both the `if` arm and the `else`
arm were `i32` integers. But what happens if the types are mismatched, as in
the following example?

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let condition = true;

    let number = if condition {
        5
    } else {
        "six"
    };

    println!("The value of number is: {}", number);
}
```

When we try to run this code, we’ll get an error. The `if` and `else` arms have
value types that are incompatible, and Rust indicates exactly where to find the
problem in the program:

```
error[E0308]: if and else have incompatible types
 --> src/main.rs:4:18
  |
4 |       let number = if condition {
  |  __________________^
5 | |         5
6 | |     } else {
7 | |         "six"
8 | |     };
  | |_____^ expected integral variable, found reference
  |
  = note: expected type `{integer}`
             found type `&str`
```

The expression in the `if` block evaluates to an integer, and the expression in
the `else` block evaluates to a string. This won’t work because variables must
have a single type. Rust needs to know at compile time what type the `number`
variable is, definitively, so it can verify at compile time that its type is
valid everywhere we use `number`. Rust wouldn’t be able to do that if the type
of `number` was only determined at runtime; the compiler would be more complex
and would make fewer guarantees about the code if it had to keep track of
multiple hypothetical types for any variable.

### Repetition with Loops

It’s often useful to execute a block of code more than once. For this task,
Rust provides several *loops*. A loop runs through the code inside the loop
body to the end and then starts immediately back at the beginning. To
experiment with loops, let’s make a new project called *loops*.

Rust has three kinds of loops: `loop`, `while`, and `for`. Let’s try each one.

#### Repeating Code with `loop`

The `loop` keyword tells Rust to execute a block of code over and over again
forever or until you explicitly tell it to stop.

As an example, change the *src/main.rs* file in your *loops* directory to look
like this:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    loop {
        println!("again!");
    }
}
```

When we run this program, we’ll see `again!` printed over and over continuously
until we stop the program manually. Most terminals support a keyboard shortcut,
ctrl-C, to halt a program that is stuck in a
continual loop. Give it a try:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling loops v0.1.0 (file:///projects/loops)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.29 secs
     Running `target/debug/loops`
again!
again!
again!
again!
^Cagain!
```

The symbol `^C` represents where you pressed ctrl-C
. You may or may not see the word `again!` printed after the `^C`,
depending on where the code was in the loop when it received the halt signal.

Fortunately, Rust provides another, more reliable way to break out of a loop.
You can place the `break` keyword within the loop to tell the program when to
stop executing the loop. Recall that we did this in the guessing game in the
“Quitting After a Correct Guess” section of Chapter 2 to exit the
program when the user won the game by guessing the correct number.

#### Conditional Loops with `while`

It’s often useful for a program to evaluate a condition within a loop. While
the condition is true, the loop runs. When the condition ceases to be true, you
call `break`, stopping the loop. This loop type could be implemented using a
combination of `loop`, `if`, `else`, and `break`; you could try that now in a
program, if you’d like.

However, this pattern is so common that Rust has a built-in language construct
for it, and it’s called a `while` loop. The following example uses `while`: the
program loops three times, counting down each time. Then, after the loop, it
prints another message and exits:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let mut number = 3;

    while number != 0 {
        println!("{}!", number);

        number = number - 1;
    }

    println!("LIFTOFF!!!");
}
```

This construct eliminates a lot of nesting that would be necessary if you used
`loop`, `if`, `else`, and `break`, and it’s clearer. While a condition holds
true, the code runs; otherwise, it exits the loop.

#### Looping Through a Collection with `for`

You could use the `while` construct to loop over the elements of a collection,
such as an array. For example, let’s look at Listing 3-5:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50];
    let mut index = 0;

    while index < 5 {
        println!("the value is: {}", a[index]);

        index = index + 1;
    }
}
```

Listing 3-5: Looping through each element of a collection
using a `while` loop

Here, the code counts up through the elements in the array. It starts at index
`0`, and then loops until it reaches the final index in the array (that is,
when `index < 5` is no longer true). Running this code will print out every
element in the array:

```
$ cargo run
   Compiling loops v0.1.0 (file:///projects/loops)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.32 secs
     Running `target/debug/loops`
the value is: 10
the value is: 20
the value is: 30
the value is: 40
the value is: 50
```

All five array values appear in the terminal, as expected. Even though `index`
will reach a value of `5` at some point, the loop stops executing before trying
to fetch a sixth value from the array.

But this approach is error prone; we could cause the program to panic if the
index length is incorrect. It’s also slow, because the compiler adds runtime
code to perform the conditional check on every element on every iteration
through the loop.

As a more efficient alternative, you can use a `for` loop and execute some code
for each item in a collection. A `for` loop looks like this code in Listing 3-6:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    let a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50];

    for element in a.iter() {
        println!("the value is: {}", element);
    }
}
```

Listing 3-6: Looping through each element of a collection
using a `for` loop

When we run this code, we’ll see the same output as in Listing 3-5. More
importantly, we’ve now increased the safety of the code and eliminated the
chance of bugs that might result from going beyond the end of the array or not
going far enough and missing some items.

For example, in the code in Listing 3-5, if you removed an item from the `a`
array but forgot to update the condition to `while index < 4`, the code would
panic. Using the `for` loop, you don’t need to remember to change any other
code if you changed the number of values in the array.

The safety and conciseness of `for` loops make them the most commonly used loop
construct in Rust. Even in situations in which you want to run some code a
certain number of times, as in the countdown example that used a `while` loop
in Listing 3-5, most Rustaceans would use a `for` loop. The way to do that
would be to use a `Range`, which is a type provided by the standard library
that generates all numbers in sequence starting from one number and ending
before another number.

Here’s what the countdown would look like using a `for` loop and another method
we’ve not yet talked about, `rev`, to reverse the range:

Filename: src/main.rs

```
fn main() {
    for number in (1..4).rev() {
        println!("{}!", number);
    }
    println!("LIFTOFF!!!");
}
```

This code is a bit nicer, isn’t it?

## Summary

You made it! That was a sizable chapter: you learned about variables, scalar
and `if` expressions, and loops! If you want to practice with the concepts
discussed in this chapter, try building programs to do the following:

* Convert temperatures between Fahrenheit and Celsius.
* Generate the nth Fibonacci number.
* Print the lyrics to the Christmas carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas,”
taking advantage of the repetition in the song.

When you’re ready to move on, we’ll talk about a concept in Rust that *doesn’t*
commonly exist in other programming languages: ownership.
