5 Vectors

5: Vectors

Vectors

let mut years: Vec<i32> = vec![1992, 2000, 2005];

years.push(2010); // years now has 4 values
years.push(2015); // years now have 5 values

println!("Number of years: {}", years.len());

In vectors, you still must declare the type.
With vectors, you can change the length.

usize

let length: usize = years.len();

usize in practice is either u32oru64` depending on the platform (32-bit vs 64-bit).

Most systems will be 64-bit, although Web Assembly is 32-bit.

This is always the type of len() invocations.

When you are indexing with an array, the type of number you put it is also a usize.

Vectors vs Arrays

let mut nums: [u8; 3] = [1, 2, 3];
let mut nums: Vec<u8> = vec![1, 2, 3];

for num in nums {
    // ...
}

Note: macros don't have to be called with parenthesis.

Why would you use vectors vs arrays? The tradeoff is the biggest factor.

Stack Memory

The stack is a way of dealing with function calls.

fn increment_decrement(num: u8) {
    print_nums(num + 1, num - 1);
}

fn print_nums(num1: u8, num2: u8) { ... }

increment_decrement(42);

What happens from a memory perspective?

The program calls increment_decrement and puts the number 42 onto the stack.
As it invokes increment_decrement, the arg grabs the stack_bytes[stack_length - 1] to get the number.
We then call print_nums with the two args 43 and 41, so now the stack looks like 42, 43, 41 and has a stack_length of 3.
Again as print_nums is invoked, it gets the value from the global stack_length variable subtract the length.
As we return to the increment_decrement function, we pop the previously stored values off the stack.
Finally as we return from increment_decrement, we pop the value 42 off the stack and end up back with stack_length of 0.

That's without returning anything. What happens when we do return something?

Basically the same, EXCEPT we will leave a space and reserve it for our returned value on the stack.

This happens on the stack for most data types as we know how much space to reserve with our return, but what happens if it is a Vec<u8> type?

We won't know how much memory to reserve, so instead we will save space for a Vector metadata struct and the values of that struct go onto a heap.

"To return the entire value on the stack, the size must be known at compile time."

The Heap

The stack is used for all the function calling things, but the heap is basically a big bucket of space that is used as a helper for the stack.

So length tells us how much space our vector is taking up and capacity lets us know how much is available.

You can actually create a vector with a request capacity:

let nums = Vec::with_capacity(5)

5: Vectors

Vectors

usize

Vectors vs Arrays

Stack Memory

The Heap

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