What Rust Can Do That Other Languages Can't

Re:What Rust Can Do That Other Languages Can't by blub on Monday February 06, 2017 @07:45AM (#13578925)

Both the original example and your translation exhibit poor API design: it's an antipattern to return mutable references to member variables. This would remove all encapsulation, which is probably the most important principle of OOP.

Nevertheless, a better solution was pointed out in an answer on the blog and by humanrebar.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What Rust Can Do That Other Languages Can't by erikdesjardins on Monday February 06, 2017 @09:33AM (#13579698)

The original example does not return a mutable reference; in Rust you must explicitly opt in to mutability. Compare [1] and [2].

[1]: https://play.rust-lang.org/?gist=78e7af18c6fc7d37d9df96be63a...

[2]: https://play.rust-lang.org/?gist=2072a18b674685f20c9d1504a88...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What Rust Can Do That Other Languages Can't by blub on Monday February 06, 2017 @10:48AM (#13580489)

Oh ok, my bad.

Then the C++ translation above should probably be a const& in C++, which is acceptable. The returned reference could in that case be stored, but it's risky and a bad practice.

[ Parent | on HN ]