Functions

Functions (like all other static declarations, such as type) can be declared both at the top level and inside other functions (or modules, which we'll come back to in moment).

The ret keyword immediately returns from a function. It is optionally followed by an expression to return. In functions that return (), the returned expression can be left off. A function can also return a value by having its top level block produce an expression (by omitting the final semicolon).

Some functions (such as the C function exit) never return normally. In Rust, these are annotated with return type !:

fn dead_end() -> ! { fail; }

This helps the compiler avoid spurious error messages. For example, the following code would be a type error if dead_end would be expected to return.

let dir = if can_go_left() { left }
          else if can_go_right() { right }
          else { dead_end(); };

Closures

Normal Rust functions (declared with fn) do not close over their environment. A lambda expression can be used to create a closure.

fn make_plus_function(x: int) -> lambda(int) -> int {
    lambda(y: int) -> int { x + y }
}
let plus_two = make_plus_function(2);
assert plus_two(3) == 5;

A lambda function copies its environment (in this case, the binding for x). It can not mutate the closed-over bindings, and will not see changes made to these variables after the lambda was evaluated. lambdas can be put in data structures and passed around without limitation.

The type of a closure is lambda(args) -> type, as opposed to fn(args) -> type. The fn type stands for 'bare' functions, with no closure attached. Keep this in mind when writing higher-order functions.

A different form of closure is the block. Blocks are written like they are in Ruby: {|x| x + y}, the formal parameters between pipes, followed by the function body. They are stack-allocated and properly close over their environment (they see updates to closed over variables, for example). But blocks can only be used in a limited set of circumstances. They can be passed to other functions, but not stored in data structures or returned.

fn map_int(f: block(int) -> int, vec: [int]) -> [int] {
    let result = [];
    for i in vec { result += [f(i)]; }
    ret result;
}
map_int({|x| x + 1 }, [1, 2, 3]);

The type of blocks is spelled block(args) -> type. Both closures and bare functions are automatically convert to blocks when appropriate. Most higher-order functions should take their function arguments as blocks.

A block with no arguments is written {|| body(); }—you can not leave off the pipes.

Binding

Partial application is done using the bind keyword in Rust.

let daynum = bind std::vec::position(_, ["mo", "tu", "we", "do",
                                         "fr", "sa", "su"]);

Binding a function produces a closure (lambda type) in which some of the arguments to the bound function have already been provided. daynum will be a function taking a single string argument, and returning the day of the week that string corresponds to (if any).

Iteration

Functions taking blocks provide a good way to define non-trivial iteration constructs. For example, this one iterates over a vector of integers backwards:

fn for_rev(v: [int], act: block(int)) {
    let i = std::vec::len(v);
    while (i > 0u) {
        i -= 1u;
        act(v[i]);
    }
}

To run such an iteration, you could do this:

for_rev([1, 2, 3], {|n| log n; });

But Rust allows a more pleasant syntax for this situation, with the loop block moved out of the parenthesis and the final semicolon omitted:

for_rev([1, 2, 3]) {|n|
    log n;
}

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Functions

Closures

Binding

Iteration

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