this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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Rust
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"how to write sloppy rust code and squander most of the advantages of the language"
Only half serious. But I think really the only point that I agree with is taking the easy way out with the borrow checker. I mean, at least try to borrow when it's idiomatic, but if you get frustrated, clone (or move) instead.
Error handling when done well is not much harder than unwrapping everything, and you get many advantages. Learn to use
thiserror
for your library crates andanyhow
for executables.I also agree that you should avoid
unsafe
99% of the time. If you think you need it, you probably don't.I see this post as an advice to learn gradually, and to write sloppy but painless code initially. Then when you have the basics, you can add the more idiomatic and tricky parts.
Exactly.
I have a strict no-
unsafe
policy. My projects don't need anythingunsafe
provides, so needing it means my structure is bad. Anyunsafe
blocks should only be in external crates and fully tested.I'm also a big fan of getting function signatures right, even if they don't behave properly. For example, if I know a function could error, I'll go ahead and have it return a result even if every error path uses
.expect()
. That way my refactors are limited to just those functions, and probably not the functions that call it.I'm a fan of writing relatively dirty code, as long as the dirty parts are obvious (e.g. have a comment explaining why certain shortcuts were made). But as much as possible, make the function signatures correct so refactors are easier.