Rust's Golden Rule
I find myself thinking about a particular design principle of Rust today. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it named specifically before, but it gets referred to from time to time, and I think it’s an under-rated but very important aspect of why Rust works so well. I was going to refer to it as “t...
Hasnain says:
Simple rule with lots of ramifications. Worth thinking about as a design principle in general.
“Rust also has a rule. It’s kinda funny, because in some senses, this rule is almost the opposite of Magic’s, if you can even stretch the comparison this far. Here it is:
Whenever the body of a function contradicts the function’s signature, the signature takes precedence; the signature is right and the body is wrong.
This rule is also so pervasive in Rust that we take it for granted, but it is really, truly important. I think it is also important for Rust users to internalize the implications of this rule, so that they know why certain things work the way that they do.”
Posted on 2023-03-27T19:48:05+0000