Add more information and an example to Kind chapter
This commit is contained in:
parent
7cc2afab20
commit
99d47b84c6
62
src/kinds.md
62
src/kinds.md
|
|
@ -1,31 +1,49 @@
|
|||
# Kinds
|
||||
A `ty::subst::Kind<'tcx>` represents some entity in the type system: currently
|
||||
either a type (`Ty<'tcx>`) or a lifetime (`ty::Region<'tcx>`), though in the
|
||||
future this will also include constants (`ty::Const<'tcx>`) to facilitate the
|
||||
use of const generics. `Kind` is used for type and lifetime substitution (from
|
||||
abstract type and lifetime parameters to concrete types and lifetimes).
|
||||
|
||||
## `UnpackedKind`
|
||||
As `Kind` itself is not type-safe (see [`Kind`](#kind)), the `UnpackedKind` enum
|
||||
provides a more convenient and safe interface for dealing with kinds. To
|
||||
convert from an `UnpackedKind` to a `Kind`, you can call `Kind::from` (or
|
||||
`.into`). It should not be necessary to convert a `Kind` to an `UnpackedKind`:
|
||||
instead, you should prefer to deal with `UnpackedKind`, converting it only when
|
||||
passing it to `Subst` methods.
|
||||
|
||||
## `Kind`
|
||||
The actual `Kind` struct is optimised for space, storing the type or lifetime
|
||||
as an interned pointer containing a mask identifying its kind (in the lowest
|
||||
2 bits).
|
||||
A `ty::subst::Kind<'tcx>` represents some entity in the type system: a type
|
||||
(`Ty<'tcx>`), lifetime (`ty::Region<'tcx>`) or constant (`ty::Const<'tcx>`).
|
||||
`Kind` is used to perform substitutions of generic parameters for concrete
|
||||
arguments, such as when calling a function with generic parameters explicitly
|
||||
with type arguments. Substitutions are represented using the
|
||||
[`Subst` type](#subst) as described below.
|
||||
|
||||
## `Subst`
|
||||
`ty::subst::Subst<'tcx>` is simply defined as a slice of `Kind<'tcx>`s
|
||||
and acts as an ordered list of substitutions from kind parameters (i.e.
|
||||
type and lifetime parameters) to kinds.
|
||||
`ty::subst::Subst<'tcx>` is intuitively simply a slice of `Kind<'tcx>`s,
|
||||
acting as an ordered list of substitutions from generic parameters to
|
||||
concrete arguments (such as types, lifetimes and consts).
|
||||
|
||||
For example, given a `HashMap<K, V>` with two type parameters, `K` and `V`, an
|
||||
instantiation of the parameters, for example `HashMap<i32, u32>`, would be
|
||||
represented by the substitution `&'tcx [tcx.types.i32, tcx.types.u32]`.
|
||||
|
||||
`Subst` provides various convenience methods to instantiant substitutions
|
||||
given item definitions.
|
||||
given item definitions, which should generally be used rather than explicitly
|
||||
constructing such substitution slices.
|
||||
|
||||
## `Kind`
|
||||
The actual `Kind` struct is optimised for space, storing the type, lifetime or
|
||||
const as an interned pointer containing a mask identifying its kind (in the
|
||||
lowest 2 bits). Unless you are working with the `Subst` implementation
|
||||
specifically, you should generally not have to deal with `Kind` and instead
|
||||
make use of the safe [`UnpackedKind`](#unpackedkind) abstraction.
|
||||
|
||||
## `UnpackedKind`
|
||||
As `Kind` itself is not type-safe, the `UnpackedKind` enum provides a more
|
||||
convenient and safe interface for dealing with kinds. An `UnpackedKind` can
|
||||
be converted to a raw `Kind` using `Kind::from()` (or simply `.into()` when
|
||||
the context is clear). As mentioned earlier, substition lists store raw
|
||||
`Kind`s, so before dealing with them, it is preferable to convert them to
|
||||
`UnpackedKind`s first. This is done by calling the `.unpack()` method.
|
||||
|
||||
```rust
|
||||
// An example of unpacking and packing a kind.
|
||||
fn deal_with_kind<'tcx>(kind: Kind<'tcx>) -> Kind<'tcx> {
|
||||
// Unpack a raw `Kind` to deal with it safely.
|
||||
let new_kind: UnpackedKind<'tcx> = match kind.unpack() {
|
||||
UnpackedKind::Type(ty) => { /* ... */ }
|
||||
UnpackedKind::Lifetime(lt) => { /* ... */ }
|
||||
UnpackedKind::Const(ct) => { /* ... */ }
|
||||
};
|
||||
// Pack the `UnpackedKind` to store it in a substitution list.
|
||||
new_kind.into()
|
||||
}
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue