Variable bindings, Constants & Statics

Variable bindings, Constants & Statics

⭐️ In Rust, variables are immutable by default, so we call them Variable bindings. To make them mutable, the mut keyword is used.

⭐️ Rust is a statically typed language; it checks data types at compile-time. But it doesn’t require you to actually type it when declaring variable bindings. In that case, the compiler checks the usage and sets a better data type for it. But for constants and statics, you must annotate the type. Types come after a colon(:)

  • Variable bindings
let t = true;
let f: bool = false;

let (x, y) = (1, 2);

let mut z = 5;
z = 6;
  • Constants
const N: i32 = 5;
  • Statics
static N: i32 = 5;

The let keyword is used in binding expressions. We can bind a name to a value or a function. Also, because the left-hand side of a let expression is a ‘pattern’, you can bind multiple names to a set of values or function values.

The const keyword is used to define constants. It lives for the entire lifetime of a program but has no fixed address in the memory. The static keyword is used to define a “global variable” type facility. There is only one instance for each value, and it’s at a fixed location in memory.

💡 Always use const, instead of static. It’s pretty rare that you actually want a memory location associated with your constant, and using a const allows for optimizations like constant propagation not only in your crate but also in downstream crates.

Variable Shadowing

Sometimes, while dealing with data, initially we get them in one unit but need to transform them into another unit for further processing. In this situation, instead of using different variable names, Rust allows us to redeclare the variable with a different data type and/ or with a different mutability setting. We call this Shadowing.

fn main() {
    let x: f64 = -20.48; // float
    let x: i64 = x.floor() as i64; // int
    println!("{}", x); // -21

    let s: &str = "hello"; // &str
    let s: String = s.to_uppercase(); // String
    println!("{}", s) // HELLO

Before going to the next…

  • Usually, constants and statics are placed at the top of the code file, outside the functions (after module imports/ use declarations).
const PI: f64 = 3.14159265359;

fn main() {
    println!("π value is {}", PI);