write part 03

diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index e89f2f145aa4aee757c3c2ce191c7468e3e3eb10..46651b261f351e1977e8d799c228261a80e5f519 100644 (file)
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -8,8 +8,12 @@
 // the course. I am writing this tutorial with a tutorial situation in mind, i.e.,
 // with a teacher being around to guide students through the course and answer
 // questions as they come up. However, I think they may also be useful if you
 // the course. I am writing this tutorial with a tutorial situation in mind, i.e.,
 // with a teacher being around to guide students through the course and answer
 // questions as they come up. However, I think they may also be useful if you

-// work through them on your own. Just make sure to actually play with the code.
-// If you have any questions, maybe the "Additional Resources" below are useful.
+// work through them on your own, you will just have to show more initiative yourself:
+// Make sure you actually type some code. It may sound stupid to manually copy code
+// that you could duplicate through the clipboard, but it's actually helpful.
+// If you have questions, check out the "Additional Resources" below. In particular,
+// the IRC channel is filled with awesome people willing to help you! I spent
+// lots of time there ;-)

 // 
 // I will assume basic familiarity with programming, and hence not explain the basic
 // concepts common to most languages. Instead, I will focus on what makes Rust special.
 // 
 // I will assume basic familiarity with programming, and hence not explain the basic
 // concepts common to most languages. Instead, I will focus on what makes Rust special.


@@ -41,7 +45,7 @@
 // * [Part 00](part00.html)
 // * [Part 01](part01.html)
 // * [Part 02](part02.html)
 // * [Part 00](part00.html)
 // * [Part 01](part01.html)
 // * [Part 02](part02.html)

-// * [Part 03](part03.html) (WIP)
+// * [Part 03](part03.html)

 // * (to be continued)
 #![allow(dead_code, unused_imports, unused_variables)]
 mod part00;
 // * (to be continued)
 #![allow(dead_code, unused_imports, unused_variables)]
 mod part00;

diff --git a/src/part02.rs b/src/part02.rs
index 4e0fa6b8f2709c5a607213c8d91f4632dcc17ce3..b8641df5877b32d0116c21e32e765ddd9067561d 100644 (file)
--- a/src/part02.rs
+++ b/src/part02.rs
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ pub fn part_main() {
 // *for an existing type*. With the hierarchical approach of, e.g., C++ or Java,
 // that's not possible: We cannot make an existing type suddenly also inherit from our abstract base class.
 
 // *for an existing type*. With the hierarchical approach of, e.g., C++ or Java,
 // that's not possible: We cannot make an existing type suddenly also inherit from our abstract base class.
 

-// **Exercise**: Define a trait "Print" to write a generic version of `SomethingOrNothing::print`.
+// **Exercise**: Define a trait `Print` to write a generic version of `SomethingOrNothing::print`.

 // Implement that trait for `i32`, and change the code above to use it.
 // I will again provide a skeleton for this solution. It also shows how to attach bounds to generic
 // implementations (just compare it to the `impl` block from the previous exercise).
 // Implement that trait for `i32`, and change the code above to use it.
 // I will again provide a skeleton for this solution. It also shows how to attach bounds to generic
 // implementations (just compare it to the `impl` block from the previous exercise).

diff --git a/src/part03.rs b/src/part03.rs
index d4805e7dbfef6dfdf15444b4e70148cc58478ed6..b9b7ce8e4745ca504e19a459c3b0318de83c744a 100644 (file)
--- a/src/part03.rs
+++ b/src/part03.rs
@@ -1,17 +1,56 @@
-// Rust-101, Part 03: Input, Formatting
-// ====================================
+// Rust-101, Part 03: Input, Testing
+// =================================

 
 

+// In part 00, I promised that we would eventually replace `read_vec` by a function
+// that actually asks the user to enter a bunch of numbers. Unfortunately,
+// I/O is a complicated topic, so the code to do that is not pretty - but well,
+// let's get that behind us.
+
+// IO/ is provided by the module `std::io`, so we first import that.
+// We also import the I/O *prelude*, which brings a bunch of commonly used I/O stuff
+// directly available.

 use std::io::prelude::*;
 use std::io;
 
 use std::io::prelude::*;
 use std::io;
 

+// Let's now go over this function line-by-line.

 fn read_vec() -> Vec<i32> {
     let mut vec = Vec::new();
 fn read_vec() -> Vec<i32> {
     let mut vec = Vec::new();

-
+    // The central handle to the standard input is made available by `io::stdin()`.

     let stdin = io::stdin();
     println!("Enter a list of numbers, one per line. End with Ctrl-D.");
     let stdin = io::stdin();
     println!("Enter a list of numbers, one per line. End with Ctrl-D.");

+    // We would now like to iterate over standard input line-by-line. We can use a `for` loop
+    // for that, but there is a catch: What happens if there is some other piece of code running
+    // concurrently, that also reads from standard input? The result would be a mess. Hence
+    // Rust requires us to `lock()` standard input if we want to perform large operations on
+    // it. (See [the documentation](http://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/std/io/struct.Stdin.html) for more
+    // details.) 

     for line in stdin.lock().lines() {
     for line in stdin.lock().lines() {

+        // The `line` we have here is not yet of type `String`. The problem with I/O is that it can always
+        // go wrong, so `line` has type `io::Result<String>`. This is a lot like `Option<String>` ("a `String` or
+        // nothing"), but in the case of "nothing", there is additional information about the error.
+        // Again, I recommend to check [the documentation](http://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/std/io/type.Result.html).
+        // You will see that `io::Result` is actually just an alias for `Result`, so click on that to obtain
+        // the list of all constructors and methods of the type.
+
+        // We will be lazy here and just assume that nothing goes wrong: `unwrap()` returns the `String` if there is one,
+        // and halts the program (with an appropriate error message) otherwise. Can you find the documentation
+        // of `Result::unwrap()`?

         let line = line.unwrap();
         let line = line.unwrap();

+        // Now that we have our `String`, we want to make it an `i32`. `parse` is a method on `String` that
+        // can convert a string to anything. Try finding it's documentation!
+
+        // In this case, Rust *could* figure out automatically that we need an `i32` (because of the return type
+        // of the function), but that's a bit too much magic for my taste. So I use this opportunity to
+        // introduce the syntax for explicitly giving the type parameter of a generic function: `parse::<i32>` is `parse`
+        // with its generic type set to `i32`.

         match line.parse::<i32>() {
         match line.parse::<i32>() {

+        // `parse` returns again a `Result`, and this time we use a `match` to handle errors (like, the user entering
+        // something that is not a number).
+        // This is a common pattern in Rust: Operations that could go wrong will return `Option` or `Result`.
+        // The only way to get to the value we are interested in is through pattern matching (and through helper functions
+        // like `unwrap()`). If we call a function that returns a `Result`, and throw the return value away,
+        // the compiler will emit a warning. It is hence impossible for us to *forget* handling an error,
+        // or to accidentally use a value that doesn't make any sense because there was an error producing it.

             Ok(num) => vec.push(num),
             Err(_) => println!("What did I say about numbers?"),
         }
             Ok(num) => vec.push(num),
             Err(_) => println!("What did I say about numbers?"),
         }


@@ -20,6 +59,12 @@ fn read_vec() -> Vec<i32> {
     vec
 }
 
     vec
 }
 

+// So much for `read_vec`. If there are any questions left, the documentation of the respective function
+// should be very helpful. I will not always provide the links, as the documentation is quite easy to navigate
+// and you should get used to that.
+// 
+// The rest of the code dosn't change, so we just copy it.
+

 enum SomethingOrNothing<T>  {
     Something(T),
     Nothing,
 enum SomethingOrNothing<T>  {
     Something(T),
     Nothing,


@@ -41,6 +86,8 @@ fn vec_min<T: Minimum>(v: Vec<T>) -> SomethingOrNothing<T> {
     min
 }
 
     min
 }
 

+// `::std::cmp::min` is a way to refer to this function without importing `std`.
+// We could also have done `use std::cmp;` and later called `cmp::min`. Try that!

 impl Minimum for i32 {
     fn min(a: Self, b: Self) -> Self {
         ::std::cmp::min(a, b)
 impl Minimum for i32 {
     fn min(a: Self, b: Self) -> Self {
         ::std::cmp::min(a, b)


@@ -55,26 +102,65 @@ impl SomethingOrNothing<i32> {
         };
     }
 }
         };
     }
 }

+
+// If you update your `main.rs` to use part 03, `cargo run` should now ask you for some numbers,
+// and tell you the minimum. Neat, isn't it?

 pub fn part_main() {
     let vec = read_vec();
     let min = vec_min(vec);
     min.print();
 }
 
 pub fn part_main() {
     let vec = read_vec();
     let min = vec_min(vec);
     min.print();
 }
 

+// After all this nit-picking about I/O details, let me show you quickly something unrelated,
+// but really nice: Rust's built-in support for testing.
+// Now that the user can run our program on loads of inputs, we better make sure that it is correct.
+// To be able to test the result of `vec_min`, we first have to write a function that
+// is able to test equality if `SimethingOrNothing`. So let's quickly do that.
+
+// `equals` performs pattern-matching on both `self` and `other` to test the two for being
+// equal. Because we are lazy, we want to write only one `match`. so we group the two into a
+// pair such that we can match on both of them at once. You can read the first arm of the match
+// as testing whether `(self, other)` is `(Nothing, Nothing)`, which is the case exactly if
+// both `self` and `other` are `Nothing`. Similar so for the second arm.

 impl SomethingOrNothing<i32> {
     fn equals(self, other: Self) -> bool {
         match (self, other) {
 impl SomethingOrNothing<i32> {
     fn equals(self, other: Self) -> bool {
         match (self, other) {

-            (Nothing     , Nothing      ) => true,
-            (Something(n), Something (m)) => n == m,
+            (Nothing     , Nothing     ) => true,
+            (Something(n), Something(m)) => n == m,
+            // `_` is the syntax for "I don't care", so this is how you add a default case to your `match`.

             _ => false,
         }
     }
 }
 
             _ => false,
         }
     }
 }
 

+// Now we are almost done! Writing a test in Rust is shockingly simple. Just write a function
+// that takes no arguments as returns nothing, and add `#[test]` right in front of it.
+// That's called an *attribute*, and the `test` attribute, well, declares the function to
+// be a test.
+
+// Within the function, we can then use `panic!` to indicate test failure. Helpfully, there's
+// a macro `assert!` that panics if its argument becomes `false`.
+// Using `assert!` and our brand-new `equals`, we can now call `vec_min` with some lists
+// and make sure it returns The Right Thing.

 #[test]
 #[test]

-fn tes_vec_min() {
+fn test_vec_min() {

     assert!(vec_min(vec![6,325,33,532,5,7]).equals(Something(5)));
     assert!(vec_min(vec![6,325,33,532,5,7]).equals(Something(5)));

-    assert!(vec_min(vec![]).equals(Nothing));
+    assert!(vec_min(vec![6,325,33,532]).equals(Something(6)));

 }
 }

+// To execute the test, run `cargo test`. It should tell you that everything is all right.
+// Now that was simple, wasn't it?
+// 
+// **Exercise**: Add a case to `test_vec_min` that checks the behavior on empty lists.
+// 
+// **Exercise**: Change `vec_min` such that everything still compiles, but the test fails.
+// 
+// **Bonus Exercise**: Because `String::parse` is itself generic, you can change `read_vec` to
+// be a generic function that works for any type, not just for `i32`. However, you will have to add
+// a trait bound to `read_vec`, as not every type supports being parsed. <br/>
+// Once you made `vec_min` generic, copy your generic `print` from the previous part. Implement all
+// our traits (`Minimum` and `Print`) for `f32` (32-bit floating-point numbers), and change `part_main()`
+// such that your program now computes the minimum of a list of floating-point numbers. <br/>
+// *Hint*: You can figure out the trait bound `read_vec` needs from the documentation of `String::parse`.
+// Furthermore, `std::cmp::min` works not just for `i32`, but also for `f32`.

 
 // [index](main.html) | [previous](part02.html) | next
 
 // [index](main.html) | [previous](part02.html) | next