930 lines
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930 lines
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<ol class="chapter"><li class="affix"><a href="introduction.html">Introduction</a></li><li><a href="0_background_information.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.</strong> Background information</a></li><li><a href="1_futures_in_rust.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.</strong> Futures in Rust</a></li><li><a href="2_waker_context.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.</strong> Waker and Context</a></li><li><a href="3_generators_pin.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.</strong> Generators</a></li><li><a href="4_pin.html" class="active"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.</strong> Pin</a></li><li><a href="6_future_example.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.</strong> Implementing Futures</a></li><li><a href="8_finished_example.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.</strong> Finished example (editable)</a></li><li class="affix"><a href="conclusion.html">Conclusion and exercises</a></li></ol>
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<h1 class="menu-title">Futures Explained in 200 Lines of Rust</h1>
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<main>
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<h1><a class="header" href="#pin" id="pin">Pin</a></h1>
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<blockquote>
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<p><strong>Overview</strong></p>
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<ol>
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<li>Learn how to use <code>Pin</code> and why it's required when implementing your own <code>Future</code></li>
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<li>Understand how to make self-referential types safe to use in Rust</li>
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<li>Learn how borrowing across <code>await</code> points is accomplished</li>
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<li>Get a set of practical rules to help you work with <code>Pin</code></li>
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</ol>
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<p><code>Pin</code> was suggested in <a href="https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/blob/master/text/2349-pin.md">RFC#2349</a></p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>Let's jump strait to it. Pinning is one of those subjects which is hard to wrap
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your head around in the start, but once you unlock a mental model for it
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it gets significantly easier to reason about.</p>
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<h2><a class="header" href="#definitions" id="definitions">Definitions</a></h2>
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<p>Pin is only relevant for pointers. A reference to an object is a pointer.</p>
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<p>Pin consists of the <code>Pin</code> type and the <code>Unpin</code> marker. Pin's purpose in life is
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to govern the rules that need to apply for types which implement <code>!Unpin</code>.</p>
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<p>Yep, you're right, that's double negation right there. <code>!Unpin</code> means
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"not-un-pin".</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p><em>This naming scheme is one of Rusts safety features where it deliberately
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tests if you're too tired to safely implement a type with this marker. If
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you're starting to get confused, or even angry, by <code>!Unpin</code> it's a good sign
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that it's time to lay down the work and start over tomorrow with a fresh mind.</em></p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>On a more serious note, I feel obliged to mention that there are valid reasons
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for the names that were chosen. Naming is not easy, and I considered renaming
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<code>Unpin</code> and <code>!Unpin</code> in this book to make them easier to reason about. </p>
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<p>However, an experienced member of the Rust community convinced me that that there
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is just too many nuances and edge-cases to consider which is easily overlooked when
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naively giving these markers different names, and I'm convinced that we'll
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just have to get used to them and use them as is.</p>
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<p>If you want to you can read a bit of the discussion from the
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<a href="https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/naming-pin-anchor-move/6864/12">internals thread</a>.</p>
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<h2><a class="header" href="#pinning-and-self-referential-structs" id="pinning-and-self-referential-structs">Pinning and self-referential structs</a></h2>
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<p>Let's start where we left off in the last chapter by making the problem we
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saw using a self-referential struct in our generator a lot simpler by making
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some self-referential structs that are easier to reason about than our
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state machines:</p>
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<p>For now our example will look like this:</p>
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<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">use std::pin::Pin;
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#[derive(Debug)]
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struct Test {
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a: String,
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b: *const String,
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}
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impl Test {
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fn new(txt: &str) -> Self {
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let a = String::from(txt);
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Test {
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a,
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b: std::ptr::null(),
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}
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}
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fn init(&mut self) {
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let self_ref: *const String = &self.a;
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self.b = self_ref;
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}
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fn a(&self) -> &str {
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&self.a
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}
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fn b(&self) -> &String {
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unsafe {&*(self.b)}
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}
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}
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</code></pre>
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<p>Let's walk through this example since we'll be using it the rest of this chapter.</p>
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<p>We have a self-referential struct <code>Test</code>. <code>Test</code> needs an <code>init</code> method to be
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created which is strange but we'll need that to keep this example as short as
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possible.</p>
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<p><code>Test</code> provides two methods to get a reference to the value of the fields
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<code>a</code> and <code>b</code>. Since <code>b</code> is a reference to <code>a</code> we store it as a pointer since
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the borrowing rules of Rust doesn't allow us to define this lifetime.</p>
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<p>Now, let's use this example to explain the problem we encounter in detail. As
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you see, this works as expected:</p>
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<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">fn main() {
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let mut test1 = Test::new("test1");
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test1.init();
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let mut test2 = Test::new("test2");
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test2.init();
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println!("a: {}, b: {}", test1.a(), test1.b());
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println!("a: {}, b: {}", test2.a(), test2.b());
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}
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# use std::pin::Pin;
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# #[derive(Debug)]
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# struct Test {
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# a: String,
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# b: *const String,
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# }
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#
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# impl Test {
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# fn new(txt: &str) -> Self {
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# let a = String::from(txt);
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# Test {
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# a,
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# b: std::ptr::null(),
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# }
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# }
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#
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# // We need an `init` method to actually set our self-reference
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# fn init(&mut self) {
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# let self_ref: *const String = &self.a;
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# self.b = self_ref;
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# }
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#
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# fn a(&self) -> &str {
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# &self.a
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# }
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#
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# fn b(&self) -> &String {
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# unsafe {&*(self.b)}
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# }
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# }
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</code></pre></pre>
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<p>In our main method we first instantiate two instances of <code>Test</code> and print out
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the value of the fields on <code>test1</code>. We get what we'd expect:</p>
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<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">a: test1, b: test1
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a: test2, b: test2
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</code></pre>
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<p>Let's see what happens if we swap the data stored at the memory location
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which <code>test1</code> is pointing to with the data stored at the memory location
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<code>test2</code> is pointing to and vice a versa.</p>
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<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">fn main() {
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let mut test1 = Test::new("test1");
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test1.init();
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let mut test2 = Test::new("test2");
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test2.init();
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println!("a: {}, b: {}", test1.a(), test1.b());
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std::mem::swap(&mut test1, &mut test2);
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println!("a: {}, b: {}", test2.a(), test2.b());
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}
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# use std::pin::Pin;
|
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# #[derive(Debug)]
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# struct Test {
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# a: String,
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# b: *const String,
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# }
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#
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# impl Test {
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# fn new(txt: &str) -> Self {
|
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# let a = String::from(txt);
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# Test {
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# a,
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# b: std::ptr::null(),
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# }
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# }
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#
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# fn init(&mut self) {
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# let self_ref: *const String = &self.a;
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# self.b = self_ref;
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# }
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#
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# fn a(&self) -> &str {
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# &self.a
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# }
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#
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# fn b(&self) -> &String {
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# unsafe {&*(self.b)}
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# }
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# }
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</code></pre></pre>
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<p>Naively, we could think that what we should get a debug print of <code>test1</code> two
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times like this</p>
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<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">a: test1, b: test1
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a: test1, b: test1
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</code></pre>
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<p>But instead we get:</p>
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<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">a: test1, b: test1
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a: test1, b: test2
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</code></pre>
|
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<p>The pointer to <code>test2.b</code> still points to the old location which is inside <code>test1</code>
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now. The struct is not self-referential anymore, it holds a pointer to a field
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in a different object. That means we can't rely on the lifetime of <code>test2.b</code> to
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be tied to the lifetime of <code>test2</code> anymore.</p>
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<p>If your still not convinced, this should at least convince you:</p>
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<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">fn main() {
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let mut test1 = Test::new("test1");
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test1.init();
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let mut test2 = Test::new("test2");
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test2.init();
|
|
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println!("a: {}, b: {}", test1.a(), test1.b());
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std::mem::swap(&mut test1, &mut test2);
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test1.a = "I've totally changed now!".to_string();
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println!("a: {}, b: {}", test2.a(), test2.b());
|
|
|
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}
|
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# use std::pin::Pin;
|
|
# #[derive(Debug)]
|
|
# struct Test {
|
|
# a: String,
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# b: *const String,
|
|
# }
|
|
#
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# impl Test {
|
|
# fn new(txt: &str) -> Self {
|
|
# let a = String::from(txt);
|
|
# Test {
|
|
# a,
|
|
# b: std::ptr::null(),
|
|
# }
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# }
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|
#
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# fn init(&mut self) {
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# let self_ref: *const String = &self.a;
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# self.b = self_ref;
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# }
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|
#
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# fn a(&self) -> &str {
|
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# &self.a
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# }
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|
#
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# fn b(&self) -> &String {
|
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# unsafe {&*(self.b)}
|
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# }
|
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# }
|
|
</code></pre></pre>
|
|
<p>That shouldn't happen. There is no serious error yet, but as you can imagine
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|
it's easy to create serious bugs using this code.</p>
|
|
<p>I created a diagram to help visualize what's going on:</p>
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|
<p><strong>Fig 1: Before and after swap</strong>
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|
<img src="./assets/swap_problem.jpg" alt="swap_problem" /></p>
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|
<p>As you can see this results in unwanted behavior. It's easy to get this to
|
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segfault, show UB and fail in other spectacular ways as well.</p>
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<h2><a class="header" href="#pinning-to-the-stack" id="pinning-to-the-stack">Pinning to the stack</a></h2>
|
|
<p>Now, we can solve this problem by using <code>Pin</code> instead. Let's take a look at what
|
|
our example would look like then:</p>
|
|
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">use std::pin::Pin;
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use std::marker::PhantomPinned;
|
|
|
|
#[derive(Debug)]
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|
struct Test {
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|
a: String,
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b: *const String,
|
|
_marker: PhantomPinned,
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
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impl Test {
|
|
fn new(txt: &str) -> Self {
|
|
let a = String::from(txt);
|
|
Test {
|
|
a,
|
|
b: std::ptr::null(),
|
|
// This makes our type `!Unpin`
|
|
_marker: PhantomPinned,
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}
|
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}
|
|
fn init<'a>(self: Pin<&'a mut Self>) {
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let self_ptr: *const String = &self.a;
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let this = unsafe { self.get_unchecked_mut() };
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this.b = self_ptr;
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}
|
|
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fn a<'a>(self: Pin<&'a Self>) -> &'a str {
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&self.get_ref().a
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}
|
|
|
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fn b<'a>(self: Pin<&'a Self>) -> &'a String {
|
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unsafe { &*(self.b) }
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}
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}
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</code></pre>
|
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<p>Now, what we've done here is pinning a stack address. That will always be
|
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<code>unsafe</code> if our type implements <code>!Unpin</code>.</p>
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|
<p>We use the same tricks here, including requiring an <code>init</code>. If we want to fix that
|
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and let users avoid <code>unsafe</code> we need to pin our data on the heap instead which
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we'll show in a second.</p>
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<p>Let's see what happens if we run our example now:</p>
|
|
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">pub fn main() {
|
|
// test1 is safe to move before we initialize it
|
|
let mut test1 = Test::new("test1");
|
|
// Notice how we shadow `test1` to prevent it from beeing accessed again
|
|
let mut test1 = unsafe { Pin::new_unchecked(&mut test1) };
|
|
Test::init(test1.as_mut());
|
|
|
|
let mut test2 = Test::new("test2");
|
|
let mut test2 = unsafe { Pin::new_unchecked(&mut test2) };
|
|
Test::init(test2.as_mut());
|
|
|
|
println!("a: {}, b: {}", Test::a(test1.as_ref()), Test::b(test1.as_ref()));
|
|
println!("a: {}, b: {}", Test::a(test2.as_ref()), Test::b(test2.as_ref()));
|
|
}
|
|
# use std::pin::Pin;
|
|
# use std::marker::PhantomPinned;
|
|
#
|
|
# #[derive(Debug)]
|
|
# struct Test {
|
|
# a: String,
|
|
# b: *const String,
|
|
# _marker: PhantomPinned,
|
|
# }
|
|
#
|
|
#
|
|
# impl Test {
|
|
# fn new(txt: &str) -> Self {
|
|
# let a = String::from(txt);
|
|
# Test {
|
|
# a,
|
|
# b: std::ptr::null(),
|
|
# // This makes our type `!Unpin`
|
|
# _marker: PhantomPinned,
|
|
# }
|
|
# }
|
|
# fn init<'a>(self: Pin<&'a mut Self>) {
|
|
# let self_ptr: *const String = &self.a;
|
|
# let this = unsafe { self.get_unchecked_mut() };
|
|
# this.b = self_ptr;
|
|
# }
|
|
#
|
|
# fn a<'a>(self: Pin<&'a Self>) -> &'a str {
|
|
# &self.get_ref().a
|
|
# }
|
|
#
|
|
# fn b<'a>(self: Pin<&'a Self>) -> &'a String {
|
|
# unsafe { &*(self.b) }
|
|
# }
|
|
# }
|
|
</code></pre></pre>
|
|
<p>Now, if we try to pull the same trick which got us in to trouble the last time
|
|
you'll get a compilation error.</p>
|
|
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust compile_fail">pub fn main() {
|
|
let mut test1 = Test::new("test1");
|
|
let mut test1 = unsafe { Pin::new_unchecked(&mut test1) };
|
|
Test::init(test1.as_mut());
|
|
|
|
let mut test2 = Test::new("test2");
|
|
let mut test2 = unsafe { Pin::new_unchecked(&mut test2) };
|
|
Test::init(test2.as_mut());
|
|
|
|
println!("a: {}, b: {}", Test::a(test1.as_ref()), Test::b(test1.as_ref()));
|
|
std::mem::swap(test1.as_mut(), test2.as_mut());
|
|
println!("a: {}, b: {}", Test::a(test2.as_ref()), Test::b(test2.as_ref()));
|
|
}
|
|
# use std::pin::Pin;
|
|
# use std::marker::PhantomPinned;
|
|
#
|
|
# #[derive(Debug)]
|
|
# struct Test {
|
|
# a: String,
|
|
# b: *const String,
|
|
# _marker: PhantomPinned,
|
|
# }
|
|
#
|
|
#
|
|
# impl Test {
|
|
# fn new(txt: &str) -> Self {
|
|
# let a = String::from(txt);
|
|
# Test {
|
|
# a,
|
|
# b: std::ptr::null(),
|
|
# // This makes our type `!Unpin`
|
|
# _marker: PhantomPinned,
|
|
# }
|
|
# }
|
|
# fn init<'a>(self: Pin<&'a mut Self>) {
|
|
# let self_ptr: *const String = &self.a;
|
|
# let this = unsafe { self.get_unchecked_mut() };
|
|
# this.b = self_ptr;
|
|
# }
|
|
#
|
|
# fn a<'a>(self: Pin<&'a Self>) -> &'a str {
|
|
# &self.get_ref().a
|
|
# }
|
|
#
|
|
# fn b<'a>(self: Pin<&'a Self>) -> &'a String {
|
|
# unsafe { &*(self.b) }
|
|
# }
|
|
# }
|
|
</code></pre></pre>
|
|
<p>As you see from the error you get by running the code the type system prevents
|
|
us from swapping the pinned pointers.</p>
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<p>It's important to note that stack pinning will always depend on the current
|
|
stack frame we're in, so we can't create a self referential object in one
|
|
stack frame and return it since any pointers we take to "self" is invalidated.</p>
|
|
<p>It also puts a lot of responsibility in your hands if you pin a value to the
|
|
stack. A mistake that is easy to make is, forgetting to shadow the original variable
|
|
since you could drop the pinned pointer and access the old value
|
|
after it's initialized like this:</p>
|
|
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">fn main() {
|
|
let mut test1 = Test::new("test1");
|
|
let mut test1_pin = unsafe { Pin::new_unchecked(&mut test1) };
|
|
Test::init(test1_pin.as_mut());
|
|
drop(test1_pin);
|
|
|
|
let mut test2 = Test::new("test2");
|
|
mem::swap(&mut test1, &mut test2);
|
|
println!("Not self referential anymore: {:?}", test1.b);
|
|
}
|
|
# use std::pin::Pin;
|
|
# use std::marker::PhantomPinned;
|
|
# use std::mem;
|
|
#
|
|
# #[derive(Debug)]
|
|
# struct Test {
|
|
# a: String,
|
|
# b: *const String,
|
|
# _marker: PhantomPinned,
|
|
# }
|
|
#
|
|
#
|
|
# impl Test {
|
|
# fn new(txt: &str) -> Self {
|
|
# let a = String::from(txt);
|
|
# Test {
|
|
# a,
|
|
# b: std::ptr::null(),
|
|
# // This makes our type `!Unpin`
|
|
# _marker: PhantomPinned,
|
|
# }
|
|
# }
|
|
# fn init<'a>(self: Pin<&'a mut Self>) {
|
|
# let self_ptr: *const String = &self.a;
|
|
# let this = unsafe { self.get_unchecked_mut() };
|
|
# this.b = self_ptr;
|
|
# }
|
|
#
|
|
# fn a<'a>(self: Pin<&'a Self>) -> &'a str {
|
|
# &self.get_ref().a
|
|
# }
|
|
#
|
|
# fn b<'a>(self: Pin<&'a Self>) -> &'a String {
|
|
# unsafe { &*(self.b) }
|
|
# }
|
|
# }
|
|
</code></pre></pre>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
<h2><a class="header" href="#pinning-to-the-heap" id="pinning-to-the-heap">Pinning to the heap</a></h2>
|
|
<p>For completeness let's remove some unsafe and the need for an <code>init</code> method
|
|
at the cost of a heap allocation. Pinning to the heap is safe so the user
|
|
doesn't need to implement any unsafe code:</p>
|
|
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">use std::pin::Pin;
|
|
use std::marker::PhantomPinned;
|
|
|
|
#[derive(Debug)]
|
|
struct Test {
|
|
a: String,
|
|
b: *const String,
|
|
_marker: PhantomPinned,
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
impl Test {
|
|
fn new(txt: &str) -> Pin<Box<Self>> {
|
|
let a = String::from(txt);
|
|
let t = Test {
|
|
a,
|
|
b: std::ptr::null(),
|
|
_marker: PhantomPinned,
|
|
};
|
|
let mut boxed = Box::pin(t);
|
|
let self_ptr: *const String = &boxed.as_ref().a;
|
|
unsafe { boxed.as_mut().get_unchecked_mut().b = self_ptr };
|
|
|
|
boxed
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
fn a<'a>(self: Pin<&'a Self>) -> &'a str {
|
|
&self.get_ref().a
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
fn b<'a>(self: Pin<&'a Self>) -> &'a String {
|
|
unsafe { &*(self.b) }
|
|
}
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
pub fn main() {
|
|
let mut test1 = Test::new("test1");
|
|
let mut test2 = Test::new("test2");
|
|
|
|
println!("a: {}, b: {}",test1.as_ref().a(), test1.as_ref().b());
|
|
println!("a: {}, b: {}",test2.as_ref().a(), test2.as_ref().b());
|
|
}
|
|
</code></pre></pre>
|
|
<p>The fact that it's safe to pin a heap allocated value even if it is <code>!Unpin</code>
|
|
makes sense. Once the data is allocated on the heap it will have a stable address.</p>
|
|
<p>There is no need for us as users of the API to take special care and ensure
|
|
that the self-referential pointer stays valid.</p>
|
|
<p>There are ways to safely give some guarantees on stack pinning as well, but right
|
|
now you need to use a crate like <a href="https://docs.rs/pin-project/">pin_project</a> to do that.</p>
|
|
<h2><a class="header" href="#practical-rules-for-pinning" id="practical-rules-for-pinning">Practical rules for Pinning</a></h2>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>If <code>T: Unpin</code> (which is the default), then <code>Pin<'a, T></code> is entirely
|
|
equivalent to <code>&'a mut T</code>. in other words: <code>Unpin</code> means it's OK for this type
|
|
to be moved even when pinned, so <code>Pin</code> will have no effect on such a type.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Getting a <code>&mut T</code> to a pinned T requires unsafe if <code>T: !Unpin</code>. In
|
|
other words: requiring a pinned pointer to a type which is <code>!Unpin</code> prevents
|
|
the <em>user</em> of that API from moving that value unless it choses to write <code>unsafe</code>
|
|
code.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Pinning does nothing special with memory allocation like putting it into some
|
|
"read only" memory or anything fancy. It only uses the type system to prevent
|
|
certain operations on this value.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Most standard library types implement <code>Unpin</code>. The same goes for most
|
|
"normal" types you encounter in Rust. <code>Futures</code> and <code>Generators</code> are two
|
|
exceptions.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The main use case for <code>Pin</code> is to allow self referential types, the whole
|
|
justification for stabilizing them was to allow that. There are still corner
|
|
cases in the API which are being explored.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The implementation behind objects that are <code>!Unpin</code> is most likely unsafe.
|
|
Moving such a type after it has been pinned can cause the universe to crash. As of the time of writing
|
|
this book, creating and reading fields of a self referential struct still requires <code>unsafe</code>
|
|
(the only way to do it is to create a struct containing raw pointers to itself).</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>You can add a <code>!Unpin</code> bound on a type on nightly with a feature flag, or
|
|
by adding <code>std::marker::PhantomPinned</code> to your type on stable.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>You can either pin a value to memory on the stack or on the heap.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Pinning a <code>!Unpin</code> pointer to the stack requires <code>unsafe</code></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Pinning a <code>!Unpin</code> pointer to the heap does not require <code>unsafe</code>. There is a shortcut for doing this using <code>Box::pin</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<p>Unsafe code does not mean it's literally "unsafe", it only relieves the
|
|
guarantees you normally get from the compiler. An <code>unsafe</code> implementation can
|
|
be perfectly safe to do, but you have no safety net.</p>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
<h3><a class="header" href="#projectionstructural-pinning" id="projectionstructural-pinning">Projection/structural pinning</a></h3>
|
|
<p>In short, projection is a programming language term. <code>mystruct.field1</code> is a
|
|
projection. Structural pinning is using <code>Pin</code> on fields. This has several
|
|
caveats and is not something you'll normally see so I refer to the documentation
|
|
for that.</p>
|
|
<h3><a class="header" href="#pin-and-drop" id="pin-and-drop">Pin and Drop</a></h3>
|
|
<p>The <code>Pin</code> guarantee exists from the moment the value is pinned until it's dropped.
|
|
In the <code>Drop</code> implementation you take a mutable reference to <code>self</code>, which means
|
|
extra care must be taken when implementing <code>Drop</code> for pinned types.</p>
|
|
<h2><a class="header" href="#putting-it-all-together" id="putting-it-all-together">Putting it all together</a></h2>
|
|
<p>This is exactly what we'll do when we implement our own <code>Futures</code> stay tuned,
|
|
we're soon finished.</p>
|
|
<h2><a class="header" href="#bonus-section-fixing-our-self-referential-generator-and-learning-more-about-pin" id="bonus-section-fixing-our-self-referential-generator-and-learning-more-about-pin">Bonus section: Fixing our self-referential generator and learning more about Pin</a></h2>
|
|
<p>But now, let's prevent this problem using <code>Pin</code>. We'll discuss
|
|
<code>Pin</code> more in the next chapter, but you'll get an introduction here by just
|
|
reading the comments.</p>
|
|
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">#![feature(optin_builtin_traits, negative_impls)] // needed to implement `!Unpin`
|
|
use std::pin::Pin;
|
|
|
|
pub fn main() {
|
|
let gen1 = GeneratorA::start();
|
|
let gen2 = GeneratorA::start();
|
|
// Before we pin the pointers, this is safe to do
|
|
// std::mem::swap(&mut gen, &mut gen2);
|
|
|
|
// constructing a `Pin::new()` on a type which does not implement `Unpin` is
|
|
// unsafe. A value pinned to heap can be constructed while staying in safe
|
|
// Rust so we can use that to avoid unsafe. You can also use crates like
|
|
// `pin_utils` to pin to the stack safely, just remember that they use
|
|
// unsafe under the hood so it's like using an already-reviewed unsafe
|
|
// implementation.
|
|
|
|
let mut pinned1 = Box::pin(gen1);
|
|
let mut pinned2 = Box::pin(gen2);
|
|
|
|
// Uncomment these if you think it's safe to pin the values to the stack instead
|
|
// (it is in this case). Remember to comment out the two previous lines first.
|
|
//let mut pinned1 = unsafe { Pin::new_unchecked(&mut gen1) };
|
|
//let mut pinned2 = unsafe { Pin::new_unchecked(&mut gen2) };
|
|
|
|
if let GeneratorState::Yielded(n) = pinned1.as_mut().resume() {
|
|
println!("Gen1 got value {}", n);
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
if let GeneratorState::Yielded(n) = pinned2.as_mut().resume() {
|
|
println!("Gen2 got value {}", n);
|
|
};
|
|
|
|
// This won't work:
|
|
// std::mem::swap(&mut gen, &mut gen2);
|
|
// This will work but will just swap the pointers so nothing bad happens here:
|
|
// std::mem::swap(&mut pinned1, &mut pinned2);
|
|
|
|
let _ = pinned1.as_mut().resume();
|
|
let _ = pinned2.as_mut().resume();
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
enum GeneratorState<Y, R> {
|
|
Yielded(Y),
|
|
Complete(R),
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
trait Generator {
|
|
type Yield;
|
|
type Return;
|
|
fn resume(self: Pin<&mut Self>) -> GeneratorState<Self::Yield, Self::Return>;
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
enum GeneratorA {
|
|
Enter,
|
|
Yield1 {
|
|
to_borrow: String,
|
|
borrowed: *const String,
|
|
},
|
|
Exit,
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
impl GeneratorA {
|
|
fn start() -> Self {
|
|
GeneratorA::Enter
|
|
}
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
// This tells us that the underlying pointer is not safe to move after pinning.
|
|
// In this case, only we as implementors "feel" this, however, if someone is
|
|
// relying on our Pinned pointer this will prevent them from moving it. You need
|
|
// to enable the feature flag `#![feature(optin_builtin_traits)]` and use the
|
|
// nightly compiler to implement `!Unpin`. Normally, you would use
|
|
// `std::marker::PhantomPinned` to indicate that the struct is `!Unpin`.
|
|
impl !Unpin for GeneratorA { }
|
|
|
|
impl Generator for GeneratorA {
|
|
type Yield = usize;
|
|
type Return = ();
|
|
fn resume(self: Pin<&mut Self>) -> GeneratorState<Self::Yield, Self::Return> {
|
|
// lets us get ownership over current state
|
|
let this = unsafe { self.get_unchecked_mut() };
|
|
match this {
|
|
GeneratorA::Enter => {
|
|
let to_borrow = String::from("Hello");
|
|
let borrowed = &to_borrow;
|
|
let res = borrowed.len();
|
|
*this = GeneratorA::Yield1 {to_borrow, borrowed: std::ptr::null()};
|
|
|
|
// Trick to actually get a self reference. We can't reference
|
|
// the `String` earlier since these references will point to the
|
|
// location in this stack frame which will not be valid anymore
|
|
// when this function returns.
|
|
if let GeneratorA::Yield1 {to_borrow, borrowed} = this {
|
|
*borrowed = to_borrow;
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
GeneratorState::Yielded(res)
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
GeneratorA::Yield1 {borrowed, ..} => {
|
|
let borrowed: &String = unsafe {&**borrowed};
|
|
println!("{} world", borrowed);
|
|
*this = GeneratorA::Exit;
|
|
GeneratorState::Complete(())
|
|
}
|
|
GeneratorA::Exit => panic!("Can't advance an exited generator!"),
|
|
}
|
|
}
|
|
}
|
|
</code></pre></pre>
|
|
<p>Now, as you see, the consumer of this API must either:</p>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>Box the value and thereby allocating it on the heap</li>
|
|
<li>Use <code>unsafe</code> and pin the value to the stack. The user knows that if they move
|
|
the value afterwards it will violate the guarantee they promise to uphold when
|
|
they did their unsafe implementation.</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
<p>Hopefully, after this you'll have an idea of what happens when you use the
|
|
<code>yield</code> or <code>await</code> keywords inside an async function, and why we need <code>Pin</code> if
|
|
we want to be able to safely borrow across <code>yield/await</code> points.</p>
|
|
|
|
</main>
|
|
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