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<ol class="chapter"><li class="expanded affix "><a href="title-page.html">The Rust Programming Language</a></li><li class="expanded affix "><a href="foreword.html">Foreword</a></li><li class="expanded affix "><a href="ch00-00-introduction.html">Introduction</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch01-00-getting-started.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.</strong> Getting Started</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch01-01-installation.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.1.</strong> Installation</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch01-02-hello-world.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.2.</strong> Hello, World!</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch01-03-hello-cargo.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.3.</strong> Hello, Cargo!</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch02-00-guessing-game-tutorial.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.</strong> Programming a Guessing Game</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch03-00-common-programming-concepts.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.</strong> Common Programming Concepts</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch03-01-variables-and-mutability.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.1.</strong> Variables and Mutability</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch03-02-data-types.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.2.</strong> Data Types</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch03-03-how-functions-work.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.3.</strong> Functions</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch03-04-comments.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.4.</strong> Comments</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch03-05-control-flow.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.5.</strong> Control Flow</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch04-00-understanding-ownership.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.</strong> Understanding Ownership</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch04-01-what-is-ownership.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.1.</strong> What is Ownership?</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch04-02-references-and-borrowing.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.2.</strong> References and Borrowing</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch04-03-slices.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.3.</strong> The Slice Type</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch05-00-structs.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.</strong> Using Structs to Structure Related Data</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch05-01-defining-structs.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.</strong> Defining and Instantiating Structs</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch05-02-example-structs.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.2.</strong> An Example Program Using Structs</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch05-03-method-syntax.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.3.</strong> Method Syntax</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch06-00-enums.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.</strong> Enums and Pattern Matching</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch06-01-defining-an-enum.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.1.</strong> Defining an Enum</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch06-02-match.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.</strong> The match Control Flow Operator</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch06-03-if-let.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.3.</strong> Concise Control Flow with if let</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch07-00-managing-growing-projects-with-packages-crates-and-modules.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.</strong> Managing Growing Projects with Packages, Crates, and Modules</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch07-01-packages-and-crates.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.1.</strong> Packages and Crates</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch07-02-defining-modules-to-control-scope-and-privacy.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.2.</strong> Defining Modules to Control Scope and Privacy</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch07-03-paths-for-referring-to-an-item-in-the-module-tree.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.3.</strong> Paths for Referring to an Item in the Module Tree</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch07-04-bringing-paths-into-scope-with-the-use-keyword.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.4.</strong> Bringing Paths Into Scope with the use Keyword</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch07-05-separating-modules-into-different-files.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.5.</strong> Separating Modules into Different Files</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch08-00-common-collections.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.</strong> Common Collections</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch08-01-vectors.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.1.</strong> Storing Lists of Values with Vectors</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch08-02-strings.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.2.</strong> Storing UTF-8 Encoded Text with Strings</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch08-03-hash-maps.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.3.</strong> Storing Keys with Associated Values in Hash Maps</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch09-00-error-handling.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.</strong> Error Handling</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch09-01-unrecoverable-errors-with-panic.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.1.</strong> Unrecoverable Errors with panic!</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch09-02-recoverable-errors-with-result.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.2.</strong> Recoverable Errors with Result</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch09-03-to-panic-or-not-to-panic.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.3.</strong> To panic! or Not To panic!</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch10-00-generics.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">10.</strong> Generic Types, Traits, and Lifetimes</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch10-01-syntax.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">10.1.</strong> Generic Data Types</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch10-02-traits.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">10.2.</strong> Traits: Defining Shared Behavior</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch10-03-lifetime-syntax.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">10.3.</strong> Validating References with Lifetimes</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch11-00-testing.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.</strong> Writing Automated Tests</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch11-01-writing-tests.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.1.</strong> How to Write Tests</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch11-02-running-tests.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.2.</strong> Controlling How Tests Are Run</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch11-03-test-organization.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.3.</strong> Test Organization</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch12-00-an-io-project.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.</strong> An I/O Project: Building a Command Line Program</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch12-01-accepting-command-line-arguments.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.1.</strong> Accepting Command Line Arguments</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch12-02-reading-a-file.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.2.</strong> Reading a File</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch12-03-improving-error-handling-and-modularity.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.3.</strong> Refactoring to Improve Modularity and Error Handling</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch12-04-testing-the-librarys-functionality.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.4.</strong> Developing the Library’s Functionality with Test Driven Development</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch12-05-working-with-environment-variables.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.5.</strong> Working with Environment Variables</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch12-06-writing-to-stderr-instead-of-stdout.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.6.</strong> Writing Error Messages to Standard Error Instead of Standard Output</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch13-00-functional-features.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">13.</strong> Functional Language Features: Iterators and Closures</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch13-01-closures.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">13.1.</strong> Closures: Anonymous Functions that Can Capture Their Environment</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch13-02-iterators.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">13.2.</strong> Processing a Series of Items with Iterators</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch13-03-improving-our-io-project.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">13.3.</strong> Improving Our I/O Project</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch13-04-performance.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">13.4.</strong> Comparing Performance: Loops vs. Iterators</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch14-00-more-about-cargo.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">14.</strong> More about Cargo and Crates.io</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch14-01-release-profiles.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">14.1.</strong> Customizing Builds with Release Profiles</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch14-02-publishing-to-crates-io.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">14.2.</strong> Publishing a Crate to Crates.io</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch14-03-cargo-workspaces.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">14.3.</strong> Cargo Workspaces</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch14-04-installing-binaries.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">14.4.</strong> Installing Binaries from Crates.io with cargo install</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch14-05-extending-cargo.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">14.5.</strong> Extending Cargo with Custom Commands</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch15-00-smart-pointers.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">15.</strong> Smart Pointers</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch15-01-box.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">15.1.</strong> Using Box<T> to Point to Data on the Heap</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch15-02-deref.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">15.2.</strong> Treating Smart Pointers Like Regular References with the Deref Trait</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch15-03-drop.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">15.3.</strong> Running Code on Cleanup with the Drop Trait</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch15-04-rc.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">15.4.</strong> Rc<T>, the Reference Counted Smart Pointer</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch15-05-interior-mutability.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">15.5.</strong> RefCell<T> and the Interior Mutability Pattern</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch15-06-reference-cycles.html" class="active"><strong aria-hidden="true">15.6.</strong> Reference Cycles Can Leak Memory</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch16-00-concurrency.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">16.</strong> Fearless Concurrency</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch16-01-threads.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">16.1.</strong> Using Threads to Run Code Simultaneously</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch16-02-message-passing.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">16.2.</strong> Using Message Passing to Transfer Data Between Threads</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch16-03-shared-state.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">16.3.</strong> Shared-State Concurrency</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch16-04-extensible-concurrency-sync-and-send.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">16.4.</strong> Extensible Concurrency with the Sync and Send Traits</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch17-00-oop.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">17.</strong> Object Oriented Programming Features of Rust</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch17-01-what-is-oo.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">17.1.</strong> Characteristics of Object-Oriented Languages</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch17-02-trait-objects.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">17.2.</strong> Using Trait Objects That Allow for Values of Different Types</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch17-03-oo-design-patterns.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">17.3.</strong> Implementing an Object-Oriented Design Pattern</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch18-00-patterns.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">18.</strong> Patterns and Matching</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch18-01-all-the-places-for-patterns.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">18.1.</strong> All the Places Patterns Can Be Used</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch18-02-refutability.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">18.2.</strong> Refutability: Whether a Pattern Might Fail to Match</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch18-03-pattern-syntax.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">18.3.</strong> Pattern Syntax</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch19-00-advanced-features.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">19.</strong> Advanced Features</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch19-01-unsafe-rust.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">19.1.</strong> Unsafe Rust</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch19-03-advanced-traits.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">19.2.</strong> Advanced Traits</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch19-04-advanced-types.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">19.3.</strong> Advanced Types</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch19-05-advanced-functions-and-closures.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">19.4.</strong> Advanced Functions and Closures</a></li><li class="expanded "><a 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aria-hidden="true">21.1.</strong> A - Keywords</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="appendix-02-operators.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">21.2.</strong> B - Operators and Symbols</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="appendix-03-derivable-traits.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">21.3.</strong> C - Derivable Traits</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="appendix-04-useful-development-tools.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">21.4.</strong> D - Useful Development Tools</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="appendix-05-editions.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">21.5.</strong> E - Editions</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="appendix-06-translation.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">21.6.</strong> F - Translations of the Book</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="appendix-07-nightly-rust.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">21.7.</strong> G - How Rust is Made and “Nightly Rust”</a></li></ol></li></ol>
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<h2><a class="header" href="#reference-cycles-can-leak-memory" id="reference-cycles-can-leak-memory">Reference Cycles Can Leak Memory</a></h2>
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<p>Rust’s memory safety guarantees make it difficult, but not impossible, to
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accidentally create memory that is never cleaned up (known as a <em>memory leak</em>).
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Preventing memory leaks entirely is not one of Rust’s guarantees in the same
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way that disallowing data races at compile time is, meaning memory leaks are
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memory safe in Rust. We can see that Rust allows memory leaks by using <code>Rc<T></code>
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and <code>RefCell<T></code>: it’s possible to create references where items refer to each
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other in a cycle. This creates memory leaks because the reference count of each
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item in the cycle will never reach 0, and the values will never be dropped.</p>
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<h3><a class="header" href="#creating-a-reference-cycle" id="creating-a-reference-cycle">Creating a Reference Cycle</a></h3>
|
||
<p>Let’s look at how a reference cycle might happen and how to prevent it,
|
||
starting with the definition of the <code>List</code> enum and a <code>tail</code> method in Listing
|
||
15-25:</p>
|
||
<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
|
||
<!-- Hidden fn main is here to disable the automatic wrapping in fn main that
|
||
doc tests do; the `use List` fails if this listing is put within a main -->
|
||
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust"><span class="boring">fn main() {}
|
||
</span>use std::rc::Rc;
|
||
use std::cell::RefCell;
|
||
use crate::List::{Cons, Nil};
|
||
|
||
#[derive(Debug)]
|
||
enum List {
|
||
Cons(i32, RefCell<Rc<List>>),
|
||
Nil,
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
impl List {
|
||
fn tail(&self) -> Option<&RefCell<Rc<List>>> {
|
||
match self {
|
||
Cons(_, item) => Some(item),
|
||
Nil => None,
|
||
}
|
||
}
|
||
}
|
||
</code></pre></pre>
|
||
<p><span class="caption">Listing 15-25: A cons list definition that holds a
|
||
<code>RefCell<T></code> so we can modify what a <code>Cons</code> variant is referring to</span></p>
|
||
<p>We’re using another variation of the <code>List</code> definition from Listing 15-5. The
|
||
second element in the <code>Cons</code> variant is now <code>RefCell<Rc<List>></code>, meaning that
|
||
instead of having the ability to modify the <code>i32</code> value as we did in Listing
|
||
15-24, we want to modify which <code>List</code> value a <code>Cons</code> variant is pointing to.
|
||
We’re also adding a <code>tail</code> method to make it convenient for us to access the
|
||
second item if we have a <code>Cons</code> variant.</p>
|
||
<p>In Listing 15-26, we’re adding a <code>main</code> function that uses the definitions in
|
||
Listing 15-25. This code creates a list in <code>a</code> and a list in <code>b</code> that points to
|
||
the list in <code>a</code>. Then it modifies the list in <code>a</code> to point to <code>b</code>, creating a
|
||
reference cycle. There are <code>println!</code> statements along the way to show what the
|
||
reference counts are at various points in this process.</p>
|
||
<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
|
||
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust"><span class="boring">use crate::List::{Cons, Nil};
|
||
</span><span class="boring">use std::rc::Rc;
|
||
</span><span class="boring">use std::cell::RefCell;
|
||
</span><span class="boring">#[derive(Debug)]
|
||
</span><span class="boring">enum List {
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> Cons(i32, RefCell<Rc<List>>),
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> Nil,
|
||
</span><span class="boring">}
|
||
</span><span class="boring">
|
||
</span><span class="boring">impl List {
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> fn tail(&self) -> Option<&RefCell<Rc<List>>> {
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> match self {
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> Cons(_, item) => Some(item),
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> Nil => None,
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> }
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> }
|
||
</span><span class="boring">}
|
||
</span><span class="boring">
|
||
</span>fn main() {
|
||
let a = Rc::new(Cons(5, RefCell::new(Rc::new(Nil))));
|
||
|
||
println!("a initial rc count = {}", Rc::strong_count(&a));
|
||
println!("a next item = {:?}", a.tail());
|
||
|
||
let b = Rc::new(Cons(10, RefCell::new(Rc::clone(&a))));
|
||
|
||
println!("a rc count after b creation = {}", Rc::strong_count(&a));
|
||
println!("b initial rc count = {}", Rc::strong_count(&b));
|
||
println!("b next item = {:?}", b.tail());
|
||
|
||
if let Some(link) = a.tail() {
|
||
*link.borrow_mut() = Rc::clone(&b);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
println!("b rc count after changing a = {}", Rc::strong_count(&b));
|
||
println!("a rc count after changing a = {}", Rc::strong_count(&a));
|
||
|
||
// Uncomment the next line to see that we have a cycle;
|
||
// it will overflow the stack
|
||
// println!("a next item = {:?}", a.tail());
|
||
}
|
||
</code></pre></pre>
|
||
<p><span class="caption">Listing 15-26: Creating a reference cycle of two <code>List</code>
|
||
values pointing to each other</span></p>
|
||
<p>We create an <code>Rc<List></code> instance holding a <code>List</code> value in the variable <code>a</code>
|
||
with an initial list of <code>5, Nil</code>. We then create an <code>Rc<List></code> instance
|
||
holding another <code>List</code> value in the variable <code>b</code> that contains the value 10 and
|
||
points to the list in <code>a</code>.</p>
|
||
<p>We modify <code>a</code> so it points to <code>b</code> instead of <code>Nil</code>, creating a cycle. We
|
||
do that by using the <code>tail</code> method to get a reference to the
|
||
<code>RefCell<Rc<List>></code> in <code>a</code>, which we put in the variable <code>link</code>. Then we use
|
||
the <code>borrow_mut</code> method on the <code>RefCell<Rc<List>></code> to change the value inside
|
||
from an <code>Rc<List></code> that holds a <code>Nil</code> value to the <code>Rc<List></code> in <code>b</code>.</p>
|
||
<p>When we run this code, keeping the last <code>println!</code> commented out for the
|
||
moment, we’ll get this output:</p>
|
||
<pre><code class="language-text">a initial rc count = 1
|
||
a next item = Some(RefCell { value: Nil })
|
||
a rc count after b creation = 2
|
||
b initial rc count = 1
|
||
b next item = Some(RefCell { value: Cons(5, RefCell { value: Nil }) })
|
||
b rc count after changing a = 2
|
||
a rc count after changing a = 2
|
||
</code></pre>
|
||
<p>The reference count of the <code>Rc<List></code> instances in both <code>a</code> and <code>b</code> are 2
|
||
after we change the list in <code>a</code> to point to <code>b</code>. At the end of <code>main</code>, Rust
|
||
will try to drop <code>b</code> first, which will decrease the count of the <code>Rc<List></code>
|
||
instance in <code>b</code> by 1.</p>
|
||
<p>However, because <code>a</code> is still referencing the <code>Rc<List></code> that was in <code>b</code>, that
|
||
<code>Rc<List></code> has a count of 1 rather than 0, so the memory the <code>Rc<List></code> has on
|
||
the heap won’t be dropped. The memory will just sit there with a count of 1,
|
||
forever. To visualize this reference cycle, we’ve created a diagram in Figure
|
||
15-4.</p>
|
||
<img alt="Reference cycle of lists" src="img/trpl15-04.svg" class="center" />
|
||
<p><span class="caption">Figure 15-4: A reference cycle of lists <code>a</code> and <code>b</code>
|
||
pointing to each other</span></p>
|
||
<p>If you uncomment the last <code>println!</code> and run the program, Rust will try to
|
||
print this cycle with <code>a</code> pointing to <code>b</code> pointing to <code>a</code> and so forth until it
|
||
overflows the stack.</p>
|
||
<p>In this case, right after we create the reference cycle, the program ends. The
|
||
consequences of this cycle aren’t very dire. However, if a more complex program
|
||
allocated lots of memory in a cycle and held onto it for a long time, the
|
||
program would use more memory than it needed and might overwhelm the system,
|
||
causing it to run out of available memory.</p>
|
||
<p>Creating reference cycles is not easily done, but it’s not impossible either.
|
||
If you have <code>RefCell<T></code> values that contain <code>Rc<T></code> values or similar nested
|
||
combinations of types with interior mutability and reference counting, you must
|
||
ensure that you don’t create cycles; you can’t rely on Rust to catch them.
|
||
Creating a reference cycle would be a logic bug in your program that you should
|
||
use automated tests, code reviews, and other software development practices to
|
||
minimize.</p>
|
||
<p>Another solution for avoiding reference cycles is reorganizing your data
|
||
structures so that some references express ownership and some references don’t.
|
||
As a result, you can have cycles made up of some ownership relationships and
|
||
some non-ownership relationships, and only the ownership relationships affect
|
||
whether or not a value can be dropped. In Listing 15-25, we always want <code>Cons</code>
|
||
variants to own their list, so reorganizing the data structure isn’t possible.
|
||
Let’s look at an example using graphs made up of parent nodes and child nodes
|
||
to see when non-ownership relationships are an appropriate way to prevent
|
||
reference cycles.</p>
|
||
<h3><a class="header" href="#preventing-reference-cycles-turning-an-rct-into-a-weakt" id="preventing-reference-cycles-turning-an-rct-into-a-weakt">Preventing Reference Cycles: Turning an <code>Rc<T></code> into a <code>Weak<T></code></a></h3>
|
||
<p>So far, we’ve demonstrated that calling <code>Rc::clone</code> increases the
|
||
<code>strong_count</code> of an <code>Rc<T></code> instance, and an <code>Rc<T></code> instance is only cleaned
|
||
up if its <code>strong_count</code> is 0. You can also create a <em>weak reference</em> to the
|
||
value within an <code>Rc<T></code> instance by calling <code>Rc::downgrade</code> and passing a
|
||
reference to the <code>Rc<T></code>. When you call <code>Rc::downgrade</code>, you get a smart
|
||
pointer of type <code>Weak<T></code>. Instead of increasing the <code>strong_count</code> in the
|
||
<code>Rc<T></code> instance by 1, calling <code>Rc::downgrade</code> increases the <code>weak_count</code> by 1.
|
||
The <code>Rc<T></code> type uses <code>weak_count</code> to keep track of how many <code>Weak<T></code>
|
||
references exist, similar to <code>strong_count</code>. The difference is the <code>weak_count</code>
|
||
doesn’t need to be 0 for the <code>Rc<T></code> instance to be cleaned up.</p>
|
||
<p>Strong references are how you can share ownership of an <code>Rc<T></code> instance. Weak
|
||
references don’t express an ownership relationship. They won’t cause a
|
||
reference cycle because any cycle involving some weak references will be broken
|
||
once the strong reference count of values involved is 0.</p>
|
||
<p>Because the value that <code>Weak<T></code> references might have been dropped, to do
|
||
anything with the value that a <code>Weak<T></code> is pointing to, you must make sure the
|
||
value still exists. Do this by calling the <code>upgrade</code> method on a <code>Weak<T></code>
|
||
instance, which will return an <code>Option<Rc<T>></code>. You’ll get a result of <code>Some</code>
|
||
if the <code>Rc<T></code> value has not been dropped yet and a result of <code>None</code> if the
|
||
<code>Rc<T></code> value has been dropped. Because <code>upgrade</code> returns an <code>Option<T></code>, Rust
|
||
will ensure that the <code>Some</code> case and the <code>None</code> case are handled, and there
|
||
won’t be an invalid pointer.</p>
|
||
<p>As an example, rather than using a list whose items know only about the next
|
||
item, we’ll create a tree whose items know about their children items <em>and</em>
|
||
their parent items.</p>
|
||
<h4><a class="header" href="#creating-a-tree-data-structure-a-node-with-child-nodes" id="creating-a-tree-data-structure-a-node-with-child-nodes">Creating a Tree Data Structure: a <code>Node</code> with Child Nodes</a></h4>
|
||
<p>To start, we’ll build a tree with nodes that know about their child nodes.
|
||
We’ll create a struct named <code>Node</code> that holds its own <code>i32</code> value as well as
|
||
references to its children <code>Node</code> values:</p>
|
||
<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
|
||
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">
|
||
<span class="boring">#![allow(unused_variables)]
|
||
</span><span class="boring">fn main() {
|
||
</span>use std::rc::Rc;
|
||
use std::cell::RefCell;
|
||
|
||
#[derive(Debug)]
|
||
struct Node {
|
||
value: i32,
|
||
children: RefCell<Vec<Rc<Node>>>,
|
||
}
|
||
<span class="boring">}
|
||
</span></code></pre></pre>
|
||
<p>We want a <code>Node</code> to own its children, and we want to share that ownership with
|
||
variables so we can access each <code>Node</code> in the tree directly. To do this, we
|
||
define the <code>Vec<T></code> items to be values of type <code>Rc<Node></code>. We also want to
|
||
modify which nodes are children of another node, so we have a <code>RefCell<T></code> in
|
||
<code>children</code> around the <code>Vec<Rc<Node>></code>.</p>
|
||
<p>Next, we’ll use our struct definition and create one <code>Node</code> instance named
|
||
<code>leaf</code> with the value 3 and no children, and another instance named <code>branch</code>
|
||
with the value 5 and <code>leaf</code> as one of its children, as shown in Listing 15-27:</p>
|
||
<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
|
||
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust"><span class="boring">use std::rc::Rc;
|
||
</span><span class="boring">use std::cell::RefCell;
|
||
</span><span class="boring">
|
||
</span><span class="boring">#[derive(Debug)]
|
||
</span><span class="boring">struct Node {
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> value: i32,
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> children: RefCell<Vec<Rc<Node>>>,
|
||
</span><span class="boring">}
|
||
</span><span class="boring">
|
||
</span>fn main() {
|
||
let leaf = Rc::new(Node {
|
||
value: 3,
|
||
children: RefCell::new(vec![]),
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
let branch = Rc::new(Node {
|
||
value: 5,
|
||
children: RefCell::new(vec![Rc::clone(&leaf)]),
|
||
});
|
||
}
|
||
</code></pre></pre>
|
||
<p><span class="caption">Listing 15-27: Creating a <code>leaf</code> node with no children
|
||
and a <code>branch</code> node with <code>leaf</code> as one of its children</span></p>
|
||
<p>We clone the <code>Rc<Node></code> in <code>leaf</code> and store that in <code>branch</code>, meaning the
|
||
<code>Node</code> in <code>leaf</code> now has two owners: <code>leaf</code> and <code>branch</code>. We can get from
|
||
<code>branch</code> to <code>leaf</code> through <code>branch.children</code>, but there’s no way to get from
|
||
<code>leaf</code> to <code>branch</code>. The reason is that <code>leaf</code> has no reference to <code>branch</code> and
|
||
doesn’t know they’re related. We want <code>leaf</code> to know that <code>branch</code> is its
|
||
parent. We’ll do that next.</p>
|
||
<h4><a class="header" href="#adding-a-reference-from-a-child-to-its-parent" id="adding-a-reference-from-a-child-to-its-parent">Adding a Reference from a Child to Its Parent</a></h4>
|
||
<p>To make the child node aware of its parent, we need to add a <code>parent</code> field to
|
||
our <code>Node</code> struct definition. The trouble is in deciding what the type of
|
||
<code>parent</code> should be. We know it can’t contain an <code>Rc<T></code>, because that would
|
||
create a reference cycle with <code>leaf.parent</code> pointing to <code>branch</code> and
|
||
<code>branch.children</code> pointing to <code>leaf</code>, which would cause their <code>strong_count</code>
|
||
values to never be 0.</p>
|
||
<p>Thinking about the relationships another way, a parent node should own its
|
||
children: if a parent node is dropped, its child nodes should be dropped as
|
||
well. However, a child should not own its parent: if we drop a child node, the
|
||
parent should still exist. This is a case for weak references!</p>
|
||
<p>So instead of <code>Rc<T></code>, we’ll make the type of <code>parent</code> use <code>Weak<T></code>,
|
||
specifically a <code>RefCell<Weak<Node>></code>. Now our <code>Node</code> struct definition looks
|
||
like this:</p>
|
||
<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
|
||
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">
|
||
<span class="boring">#![allow(unused_variables)]
|
||
</span><span class="boring">fn main() {
|
||
</span>use std::rc::{Rc, Weak};
|
||
use std::cell::RefCell;
|
||
|
||
#[derive(Debug)]
|
||
struct Node {
|
||
value: i32,
|
||
parent: RefCell<Weak<Node>>,
|
||
children: RefCell<Vec<Rc<Node>>>,
|
||
}
|
||
<span class="boring">}
|
||
</span></code></pre></pre>
|
||
<p>A node will be able to refer to its parent node but doesn’t own its parent.
|
||
In Listing 15-28, we update <code>main</code> to use this new definition so the <code>leaf</code>
|
||
node will have a way to refer to its parent, <code>branch</code>:</p>
|
||
<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
|
||
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust"><span class="boring">use std::rc::{Rc, Weak};
|
||
</span><span class="boring">use std::cell::RefCell;
|
||
</span><span class="boring">
|
||
</span><span class="boring">#[derive(Debug)]
|
||
</span><span class="boring">struct Node {
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> value: i32,
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> parent: RefCell<Weak<Node>>,
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> children: RefCell<Vec<Rc<Node>>>,
|
||
</span><span class="boring">}
|
||
</span><span class="boring">
|
||
</span>fn main() {
|
||
let leaf = Rc::new(Node {
|
||
value: 3,
|
||
parent: RefCell::new(Weak::new()),
|
||
children: RefCell::new(vec![]),
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
println!("leaf parent = {:?}", leaf.parent.borrow().upgrade());
|
||
|
||
let branch = Rc::new(Node {
|
||
value: 5,
|
||
parent: RefCell::new(Weak::new()),
|
||
children: RefCell::new(vec![Rc::clone(&leaf)]),
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
*leaf.parent.borrow_mut() = Rc::downgrade(&branch);
|
||
|
||
println!("leaf parent = {:?}", leaf.parent.borrow().upgrade());
|
||
}
|
||
</code></pre></pre>
|
||
<p><span class="caption">Listing 15-28: A <code>leaf</code> node with a weak reference to its
|
||
parent node <code>branch</code></span></p>
|
||
<p>Creating the <code>leaf</code> node looks similar to how creating the <code>leaf</code> node looked
|
||
in Listing 15-27 with the exception of the <code>parent</code> field: <code>leaf</code> starts out
|
||
without a parent, so we create a new, empty <code>Weak<Node></code> reference instance.</p>
|
||
<p>At this point, when we try to get a reference to the parent of <code>leaf</code> by using
|
||
the <code>upgrade</code> method, we get a <code>None</code> value. We see this in the output from the
|
||
first <code>println!</code> statement:</p>
|
||
<pre><code class="language-text">leaf parent = None
|
||
</code></pre>
|
||
<p>When we create the <code>branch</code> node, it will also have a new <code>Weak<Node></code>
|
||
reference in the <code>parent</code> field, because <code>branch</code> doesn’t have a parent node.
|
||
We still have <code>leaf</code> as one of the children of <code>branch</code>. Once we have the
|
||
<code>Node</code> instance in <code>branch</code>, we can modify <code>leaf</code> to give it a <code>Weak<Node></code>
|
||
reference to its parent. We use the <code>borrow_mut</code> method on the
|
||
<code>RefCell<Weak<Node>></code> in the <code>parent</code> field of <code>leaf</code>, and then we use the
|
||
<code>Rc::downgrade</code> function to create a <code>Weak<Node></code> reference to <code>branch</code> from
|
||
the <code>Rc<Node></code> in <code>branch.</code></p>
|
||
<p>When we print the parent of <code>leaf</code> again, this time we’ll get a <code>Some</code> variant
|
||
holding <code>branch</code>: now <code>leaf</code> can access its parent! When we print <code>leaf</code>, we
|
||
also avoid the cycle that eventually ended in a stack overflow like we had in
|
||
Listing 15-26; the <code>Weak<Node></code> references are printed as <code>(Weak)</code>:</p>
|
||
<pre><code class="language-text">leaf parent = Some(Node { value: 5, parent: RefCell { value: (Weak) },
|
||
children: RefCell { value: [Node { value: 3, parent: RefCell { value: (Weak) },
|
||
children: RefCell { value: [] } }] } })
|
||
</code></pre>
|
||
<p>The lack of infinite output indicates that this code didn’t create a reference
|
||
cycle. We can also tell this by looking at the values we get from calling
|
||
<code>Rc::strong_count</code> and <code>Rc::weak_count</code>.</p>
|
||
<h4><a class="header" href="#visualizing-changes-to-strong_count-and-weak_count" id="visualizing-changes-to-strong_count-and-weak_count">Visualizing Changes to <code>strong_count</code> and <code>weak_count</code></a></h4>
|
||
<p>Let’s look at how the <code>strong_count</code> and <code>weak_count</code> values of the <code>Rc<Node></code>
|
||
instances change by creating a new inner scope and moving the creation of
|
||
<code>branch</code> into that scope. By doing so, we can see what happens when <code>branch</code> is
|
||
created and then dropped when it goes out of scope. The modifications are shown
|
||
in Listing 15-29:</p>
|
||
<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
|
||
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust"><span class="boring">use std::rc::{Rc, Weak};
|
||
</span><span class="boring">use std::cell::RefCell;
|
||
</span><span class="boring">
|
||
</span><span class="boring">#[derive(Debug)]
|
||
</span><span class="boring">struct Node {
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> value: i32,
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> parent: RefCell<Weak<Node>>,
|
||
</span><span class="boring"> children: RefCell<Vec<Rc<Node>>>,
|
||
</span><span class="boring">}
|
||
</span><span class="boring">
|
||
</span>fn main() {
|
||
let leaf = Rc::new(Node {
|
||
value: 3,
|
||
parent: RefCell::new(Weak::new()),
|
||
children: RefCell::new(vec![]),
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
println!(
|
||
"leaf strong = {}, weak = {}",
|
||
Rc::strong_count(&leaf),
|
||
Rc::weak_count(&leaf),
|
||
);
|
||
|
||
{
|
||
let branch = Rc::new(Node {
|
||
value: 5,
|
||
parent: RefCell::new(Weak::new()),
|
||
children: RefCell::new(vec![Rc::clone(&leaf)]),
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
*leaf.parent.borrow_mut() = Rc::downgrade(&branch);
|
||
|
||
println!(
|
||
"branch strong = {}, weak = {}",
|
||
Rc::strong_count(&branch),
|
||
Rc::weak_count(&branch),
|
||
);
|
||
|
||
println!(
|
||
"leaf strong = {}, weak = {}",
|
||
Rc::strong_count(&leaf),
|
||
Rc::weak_count(&leaf),
|
||
);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
println!("leaf parent = {:?}", leaf.parent.borrow().upgrade());
|
||
println!(
|
||
"leaf strong = {}, weak = {}",
|
||
Rc::strong_count(&leaf),
|
||
Rc::weak_count(&leaf),
|
||
);
|
||
}
|
||
</code></pre></pre>
|
||
<p><span class="caption">Listing 15-29: Creating <code>branch</code> in an inner scope and
|
||
examining strong and weak reference counts</span></p>
|
||
<p>After <code>leaf</code> is created, its <code>Rc<Node></code> has a strong count of 1 and a weak
|
||
count of 0. In the inner scope, we create <code>branch</code> and associate it with
|
||
<code>leaf</code>, at which point when we print the counts, the <code>Rc<Node></code> in <code>branch</code>
|
||
will have a strong count of 1 and a weak count of 1 (for <code>leaf.parent</code> pointing
|
||
to <code>branch</code> with a <code>Weak<Node></code>). When we print the counts in <code>leaf</code>, we’ll see
|
||
it will have a strong count of 2, because <code>branch</code> now has a clone of the
|
||
<code>Rc<Node></code> of <code>leaf</code> stored in <code>branch.children</code>, but will still have a weak
|
||
count of 0.</p>
|
||
<p>When the inner scope ends, <code>branch</code> goes out of scope and the strong count of
|
||
the <code>Rc<Node></code> decreases to 0, so its <code>Node</code> is dropped. The weak count of 1
|
||
from <code>leaf.parent</code> has no bearing on whether or not <code>Node</code> is dropped, so we
|
||
don’t get any memory leaks!</p>
|
||
<p>If we try to access the parent of <code>leaf</code> after the end of the scope, we’ll get
|
||
<code>None</code> again. At the end of the program, the <code>Rc<Node></code> in <code>leaf</code> has a strong
|
||
count of 1 and a weak count of 0, because the variable <code>leaf</code> is now the only
|
||
reference to the <code>Rc<Node></code> again.</p>
|
||
<p>All of the logic that manages the counts and value dropping is built into
|
||
<code>Rc<T></code> and <code>Weak<T></code> and their implementations of the <code>Drop</code> trait. By
|
||
specifying that the relationship from a child to its parent should be a
|
||
<code>Weak<T></code> reference in the definition of <code>Node</code>, you’re able to have parent
|
||
nodes point to child nodes and vice versa without creating a reference cycle
|
||
and memory leaks.</p>
|
||
<h2><a class="header" href="#summary" id="summary">Summary</a></h2>
|
||
<p>This chapter covered how to use smart pointers to make different guarantees and
|
||
trade-offs from those Rust makes by default with regular references. The
|
||
<code>Box<T></code> type has a known size and points to data allocated on the heap. The
|
||
<code>Rc<T></code> type keeps track of the number of references to data on the heap so
|
||
that data can have multiple owners. The <code>RefCell<T></code> type with its interior
|
||
mutability gives us a type that we can use when we need an immutable type but
|
||
need to change an inner value of that type; it also enforces the borrowing
|
||
rules at runtime instead of at compile time.</p>
|
||
<p>Also discussed were the <code>Deref</code> and <code>Drop</code> traits, which enable a lot of the
|
||
functionality of smart pointers. We explored reference cycles that can cause
|
||
memory leaks and how to prevent them using <code>Weak<T></code>.</p>
|
||
<p>If this chapter has piqued your interest and you want to implement your own
|
||
smart pointers, check out <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/nomicon/">“The Rustonomicon”</a> for more useful
|
||
information.</p>
|
||
<p>Next, we’ll talk about concurrency in Rust. You’ll even learn about a few new
|
||
smart pointers.</p>
|
||
|
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