Rust uses lifetimes to track the relationships between borrows and ownership.
However, a naive implementation of lifetimes would be either too restrictive,
or permit undefined behaviour. Let's see a few examples:
or permit undefined behavior.
```rust,ignore
fn debug<'a>(a: &'a str, b: &'a str) {
println!("a = {:?} b = {:?}", a, b)
In order to allow flexible usage of lifetimes
while also preventing mis-use, Rust uses a combination of **Subtyping** and **Variance**.
## Subtyping
Subtyping is the idea that one type can be a *subtype* of another.
Let's define that `A: B` is equivalent to saying '`A` is a subtype of `B`'.
What this is suggesting to us is that the set of *requirements* that `B` defines
are completely satisfied by `A`. `A` may then have more requirements.
An example of simple subtyping that exists in the language are [supertraits](https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/book/ch19-03-advanced-traits.html?highlight=supertraits#using-supertraits-to-require-one-traits-functionality-within-another-trait)
```rust
use std::fmt;
trait OutlinePrint: fmt::Display {
fn outline_print(&self) {
todo!()
}
}
```
Here, we have that `OutlinePrint: fmt::Display` (`OutlinePrint` is a *subtype* of `Display`),
because it has all the requirements of `fmt::Display`, plus the `outline_print` function.
However, subtyping in traits is not that interesting in the case of Rust.
Here in the nomicon, we're going to focus more with how subtyping interacts with **lifetimes**
Take this example
```rust
fn debug<T:std::fmt::Debug>(a: T, b: T) {
println!("a = {:?} b = {:?}", a, b);
}
fn main() {
@ -24,163 +54,73 @@ we might see the following error:
```text
error[E0308]: mismatched types
--> src/main.rs:6:16
--> src/main.rs:10:16
|
6 | debug(a, b);
10 | debug(a, b);
| ^
| |
| expected `&'static str`, found struct `&'b str`
```
This is over-restrictive. In this case, what we want is to accept any type that lives "at least as long" as `<'a>`.
This is what subtyping is intended to fix.
Let's define lifetime `'a` to be a `subtype` of lifetime `'b`, if and only if `'a` lives _at least as long_ as `'b`.
We will denote this as `'a: 'b`
---
This is over-restrictive. In this case, what we want is to accept any type that lives *at least as long* as `'b`.
Let's try using subtyping with our lifetimes.
Subtyping is a relationship between types that allows statically typed
languages to be a bit more flexible and permissive.
Let's define a lifetime to have the a simple set of requirements: `'a` defines a region of code in which a value will be alive.
Now that we have a defined set of requirements for lifetimes, we can define how they relate to each other.
`'a: 'b` if and only if `'a` defines a region of code that **completely contains**`'b`.
Subtyping in Rust is a bit different from subtyping in other languages. This
makes it harder to give simple examples, which is a problem since subtyping,
and especially variance, is already hard to understand properly. As in,
even compiler writers mess it up all the time.
`'a` may define a region larger than `'b`, but that still fits our definition.
Going back to our example above, we can say that `'static: 'b`.
To keep things simple, this section will consider a small extension to the
Rust language that adds a new and simpler subtyping relationship. After
establishing concepts and issues under this simpler system,
we will then relate it back to how subtyping actually occurs in Rust.
So here's our simple extension, *Objective Rust*, featuring three new types:
For now, let's accept the idea that subtypes of lifetimes can be transitive (more on this in [Variance](#variance>)),
eg. `&'static str` is a subtype of `&'b str`, then we can let them coerce, and then the example above will compile
```rust
trait Animal {
fn snuggle(&self);
fn eat(&mut self);
}
trait Cat: Animal {
fn meow(&self);
fn debug<T:std::fmt::Debug>(a: T, b: T) {
println!("a = {:?} b = {:?}", a, b);
}
trait Dog: Animal {
fn bark(&self);
}
```
But unlike normal traits, we can use them as concrete and sized types, just like structs.
Now, say we have a very simple function that takes an Animal, like this:
<!-- ignore: simplified code -->
```rust,ignore
fn love(pet: Animal) {
pet.snuggle();
fn main() {
let a: &'static str = "hello";
{
let b = String::from("world");
let b = &b; // 'b has a shorter lifetime than 'static
debug(a, b); // a silently converts from `&'static str` into `&'b str`
}
}
```
By default, static types must match *exactly* for a program to compile. As such,
this code won't compile:
<!-- ignore: simplified code -->
```rust,ignore
let mr_snuggles: Cat = ...;
love(mr_snuggles); // ERROR: expected Animal, found Cat
```
Mr. Snuggles is a Cat, and Cats aren't *exactly* Animals, so we can't love him! 😿
This is annoying because Cats *are* Animals. They support every operation
an Animal supports, so intuitively `love` shouldn't care if we pass it a `Cat`.
We should be able to just **forget** the non-animal parts of our `Cat`, as they
aren't necessary to love it.
This is exactly the problem that *subtyping* is intended to fix. Because Cats are just
Animals **and more**, we say Cat is a *subtype* of Animal (because Cats are a *subset*
of all the Animals). Equivalently, we say that Animal is a *supertype* of Cat.
With subtypes, we can tweak our overly strict static type system
with a simple rule: anywhere a value of type `T` is expected, we will also
accept values that are subtypes of `T`.
Or more concretely: anywhere an Animal is expected, a Cat or Dog will also work.
As we will see throughout the rest of this section, subtyping is a lot more complicated
and subtle than this, but this simple rule is a very good 99% intuition. And unless you
write unsafe code, the compiler will automatically handle all the corner cases for you.
But this is the Rustonomicon. We're writing unsafe code, so we need to understand how
this stuff really works, and how we can mess it up.
The core problem is that this rule, naively applied, will lead to *meowing Dogs*. That is,
we can convince someone that a Dog is actually a Cat. This completely destroys the fabric
of our static type system, making it worse than useless (and leading to Undefined Behavior).
Here's a simple example of this happening when we apply subtyping in a completely naive
"find and replace" way.
## Variance
<!-- ignore: simplified code -->
```rust,ignore
fn evil_feeder(pet: &mut Animal) {
let spike: Dog = ...;
Above, we glossed over the fact that `'static: 'b` implied that `&'static T: &'b T`. This uses a property known as variance.
It's not always as simple as this example though, to understand that let's try extend this example a bit
// `pet` is an Animal, and Dog is a subtype of Animal,
// so this should be fine, right..?
*pet = spike;
```rust,compile_fail
fn debug<T>(a: &mut T, b: T) {
*a = b;
}
fn main() {
let mut mr_snuggles: Cat = ...;
evil_feeder(&mut mr_snuggles); // Replaces mr_snuggles with a Dog
mr_snuggles.meow(); // OH NO, MEOWING DOG!
let mut a: &'static str = "hello";
{
let b = String::from("world");
let b = &b;
debug(&mut a, b);
}
}
```
Clearly, we need a more robust system than "find and replace". That system is *variance*,
which is a set of rules governing how subtyping should compose. Most importantly, variance
defines situations where subtyping should be disabled.
This has a memory bug in it.
But before we get into variance, let's take a quick peek at where subtyping actually occurs in
Rust: *lifetimes*!
> NOTE: The typed-ness of lifetimes is a fairly arbitrary construct that some
> disagree with. However it simplifies our analysis to treat lifetimes
> and types uniformly.
Lifetimes are just regions of code, and regions can be partially ordered with the *contains*
(outlives) relationship. Subtyping on lifetimes is in terms of that relationship:
if `'big: 'small` ("big contains small" or "big outlives small"), then `'big` is a subtype
of `'small`. This is a large source of confusion, because it seems backwards
to many: the bigger region is a *subtype* of the smaller region. But it makes
sense if you consider our Animal example: Cat is an Animal *and more*,
just as `'big` is `'small`*and more*.
Put another way, if someone wants a reference that lives for `'small`,
usually what they actually mean is that they want a reference that lives
for *at least*`'small`. They don't actually care if the lifetimes match
exactly. So it should be ok for us to **forget** that something lives for
`'big` and only remember that it lives for `'small`.
The meowing dog problem for lifetimes will result in us being able to
store a short-lived reference in a place that expects a longer-lived one,
creating a dangling reference and letting us use-after-free.
It will be useful to note that `'static`, the forever lifetime, is a subtype of
every lifetime because by definition it outlives everything. We will be using
this relationship in later examples to keep them as simple as possible.
With all that said, we still have no idea how to actually *use* subtyping of lifetimes,
because nothing ever has type `'a`. Lifetimes only occur as part of some larger type
like `&'a u32` or `IterMut<'a, u32>`. To apply lifetime subtyping, we need to know
how to compose subtyping. Once again, we need *variance*.
## Variance
If we were to expand this out, we'd see that we're trying to assign a `&'b str` into a `&'static str`,
but the problem is that as soon as `b` goes out of scope, `a` is now invalid, even though it's supposed to have a `'static` lifetime.
Variance is where things get a bit complicated.
However, the implementation of `debug` is valid.
Therefore, this must mean that `&mut &'static str` should **not** a *subtype* of `&mut &'b str`,
even if `'static` is a subtype of `'b`.
Variance is a property that *type constructors* have with respect to their
arguments. A type constructor in Rust is any generic type with unbound arguments.
Variance is the way that Rust defines the transitivity of subtypes through their *type constructor*.
A type constructor in Rust is any generic type with unbound arguments.
For instance `Vec` is a type constructor that takes a type `T` and returns
`Vec<T>`. `&` and `&mut` are type constructors that take two inputs: a
lifetime, and a type to point to.
@ -192,20 +132,18 @@ A type constructor F's *variance* is how the subtyping of its inputs affects the
subtyping of its outputs. There are three kinds of variance in Rust. Given two
types `Sub` and `Super`, where `Sub` is a subtype of `Super`:
* `F` is *covariant* if `F<Sub>` is a subtype of `F<Super>` (subtyping "passes through")
* `F` is *contravariant* if `F<Super>` is a subtype of `F<Sub>` (subtyping is "inverted")
* `F` is *invariant* otherwise (no subtyping relationship exists)
* F is **covariant** if `F<Sub>` is a subtype of `F<Super>` (the subtype property is passed through)
* F is **contravariant** if `F<Super>` is a subtype of `F<Sub>` (the subtype property is "inverted")
* F is **invariant** otherwise (no subtyping relationship exists)
If `F` has multiple type parameters, we can talk about the individual variances
by saying that, for example, `F<T, U>` is covariant over `T` and invariant over `U`.
If we remember from the above examples,
it was ok for us to treat `&'a T` as a subtype of `&'b T` if `'a: 'b`,
therefore we can say that `&'a T` is *covariant* over `'a`.
It is very useful to keep in mind that covariance is, in practical terms, "the"
variance. Almost all consideration of variance is in terms of whether something
should be covariant or invariant. Actually witnessing contravariance is quite difficult
in Rust, though it does in fact exist.
Also, we saw that it was not ok for us to treat `&mut &'a T` as a subtype of `&mut &'b T`,
therefore we can say that `&mut T` is *invariant* over `T`
Here is a table of important variances which the rest of this section will be devoted
to trying to explain:
Here is a table of some other type constructors and their variances:
Conrad Ludgate
3 years ago
committed by
Eric Huss