tutorial: Expand the section on functions

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Brian Anderson 2012-07-07 15:37:58 -07:00
parent 205b483edd
commit 3413b3f5c5

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@ -880,19 +880,57 @@ their arguments are also lazily evaluated.
Like all other static declarations, such as `type`, functions can be
declared both at the top level and inside other functions (or modules,
which we'll come back to in moment).
which we'll come back to [later](#modules-and-crates)).
The `ret` keyword immediately returns from a function. It is
optionally followed by an expression to return. In functions that
return `()`, the returned expression can be left off. A function can
We've already seen several function definitions. They are introduced
with the `fn` keyword. The type of arguments are specified following
colons and the return type follows the arrow.
~~~~
fn int_to_str(i: int) -> str {
ret "tube sock";
}
~~~~
The `ret` keyword immediately returns from the body of a function. It
is optionally followed by an expression to return. A function can
also return a value by having its top level block produce an
expression (by omitting the final semicolon).
expression.
~~~~
# const copernicus: int = 0;
fn int_to_str(i: int) -> str {
if i == copernicus {
ret "tube sock";
} else {
ret "violin";
}
}
~~~~
~~~~
# const copernicus: int = 0;
fn int_to_str(i: int) -> str {
if i == copernicus { "tube sock" }
else { "violin" }
}
~~~~
Functions that do not return a value are said to return nil, `()`,
and both the return type and the return value may be omitted from
the definition. The following two functions are equivalent.
~~~~
fn do_nothing_the_hard_way() -> () { ret (); }
fn do_nothing_the_easy_way() { }
~~~~
Some functions (such as the C function `exit`) never return normally.
In Rust, these are annotated with the pseudo-return type '`!`':
~~~~
fn dead_end() -> ! { fail; }
fn dead_end() -> ! { fail }
~~~~
This helps the compiler avoid spurious error messages. For example,
@ -909,6 +947,8 @@ let dir = if can_go_left() { left }
else { dead_end(); };
~~~~
# The Rust Memory Model
At this junction let's take a detour to explain the concepts involved