Rustlings Topic: Conversions

in Study Log on Rust, Rustlings

Rust offers a multitude of ways to convert a value of a given type into another type.
The simplest form of type conversion is a type cast expression. It is denoted with the binary operator as.
For instance, println!("{}", 1 + 1.0); would not compile, since 1 is an integer while 1.0 is a float. However, println!("{}", 1 as f32 + 1.0) should compile. The exercise using_as tries to cover this.

Rust also offers traits that facilitate type conversions upon implementation. These traits can be found under the convert module. The traits are the following:

  • From and Into covered in from_into
  • TryFrom and TryInto covered in try_from_into
  • AsRef and AsMut covered in as_ref_mutld both compile and run without panicking. These should be the main ways within the standard library to convert data into your desired types.

You may find solution code for the topic from my repo.

  1. using_as.rs
  2. from_into.rs
  3. from_str.rs
  4. try_from_into.rs
  5. as_ref_mut.rs

using_as.rs

Let’s first run the code to see what’s the problem.

fn average(values: &[f64]) -> f64 {
    let total = values.iter().fold(0.0, |a, b| a + b);
    total / values.len()
}

fn main() {
    let values = [3.5, 0.3, 13.0, 11.7];
    println!("{}", average(&values));
}

❯ rustlings run using_as
⚠️  Compiling of exercises/conversions/using_as.rs failed! Please try again. Here's the output:
error[E0277]: cannot divide `f64` by `usize`
  --> exercises/conversions/using_as.rs:10:11
   |
10 |     total / values.len()
   |           ^ no implementation for `f64 / usize`
   |
   = help: the trait `Div<usize>` is not implemented for `f64`

error: aborting due to previous error

total variable in average() is usize type. And we are dividing it as a return value. The problem is, function signature(fn average(values: &[f64]) -> f64) suggests that it will return f64. But as error points out, Div<usize> (I guess division for usize) cannot be implicitly converted into f64.

In a situation like this, we can use the as keyword.
as is a useful tool that can convert primitive type into another primitive type. Similar to casting in C++. But beware, it is not a magic keyword that can convert one thing into anything.

It doesn’t (AFAIK) work for String/Vector or any user-defined structure.

Solution is simple: Just add as f64 at the end of total / values.len().

/* file: "exercises/conversions/using_as.rs" */
fn average(values: &[f64]) -> f64 {
    let total = values.iter().fold(0.0, |a, b| a + b);
    total / values.len() as f64
}

fn main() {
    let values = [3.5, 0.3, 13.0, 11.7];
    println!("{}", average(&values));
}

#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use super::*;

    #[test]
    fn returns_proper_type_and_value() {
        assert_eq!(average(&[3.5, 0.3, 13.0, 11.7]), 7.125);
    }
}

from_into.rs

From and Into are very useful Trait that can convert the value of A type into B type.

You only have to implement From. Into will be automatically implemented for you.

There is also a TryFrom Trait which can be implemented for conversion that may fail.
Which we will cover shortly after.

Implement the trait as instructed.

Steps:

  1. If the length of the provided string is 0, then return the default of the Person
  2. Split the given string on the commas present in it
  3. Extract the first element from the split operation and use it as the name
  4. If the name is empty, then return the default of Person
  5. Extract the other element from the split operation and parse it into a usize as the age If while parsing the age, something goes wrong, then return the default of Person.
    Otherwise, then return an instantiated Person object with the results
/* file: "exercises/conversions/from_into.rs" */
#[derive(Debug)]
struct Person {
    name: String,
    age: usize,
}

// We implement the Default trait to use it as a fallback
// when the provided string is not convertible into a Person object
impl Default for Person {
    fn default() -> Person {
        Person {
            name: String::from("John"),
            age: 30,
        }
    }
}

impl From<&str> for Person {
    fn from(s: &str) -> Person {
        let (name, age) = match s.split_once(',') {
            Some((name, age)) => (name.trim(), age.trim()),
            _ => return Person::default(),
        };

        if let Ok(age) = age.parse::<usize>() {
            if name.len() > 0 {
                return Person {
                    name: String::from(name),
                    age,
                };
            }
        }

        Person::default()
    }
}

fn main() {
    // Use the `from` function
    let p1 = Person::from("Mark,20");
    // Since From is implemented for Person, we should be able to use Into
    let p2: Person = "Gerald,70".into();
    println!("{:?}", p1);
    println!("{:?}", p2);
}

from_str.rs

Trait FromStr exists to convert str into another.

Similar to the From, but this may fail and return Err.

Steps:

  1. If the length of the provided string is 0, an error should be returned
  2. Split the given string on the commas present in it
  3. Only 2 elements should be returned from the split, otherwise, return an error
  4. Extract the first element from the split operation and use it as the name
  5. Extract the other element from the split operation and parse it into a usize as the age with something like "4".parse::<usize>()
  6. If while extracting the name and the age something goes wrong, an error should be returned If everything goes well, then return a Result of a Person object
/* file: "exercises/conversions/from_str.rs" */
use std::num::ParseIntError;
use std::str::FromStr;

#[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
struct Person {
    name: String,
    age: usize,
}

// We will use this error type for the `FromStr` implementation.
#[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
enum ParsePersonError {
    // Empty input string
    Empty,
    // Incorrect number of fields
    BadLen,
    // Empty name field
    NoName,
    // Wrapped error from parse::<usize>()
    ParseInt(ParseIntError),
}

impl FromStr for Person {
    type Err = ParsePersonError;
    fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Person, Self::Err> {
        if s.is_empty() {
            return Err(ParsePersonError::Empty);
        }

        let splitted_item = s.split(',').collect::<Vec<&str>>();
        let (name, age) = match &splitted_item[..] {
            [name, age] => (
                name.to_string(),
                age.parse().map_err(ParsePersonError::ParseInt)?,
            ),
            _ => return Err(ParsePersonError::BadLen),
        };

        if name.is_empty() {
            return Err(ParsePersonError::NoName);
        }

        Ok(Person {
            name: name.into(),
            age,
        })
    }
}

fn main() {
    let p = "Mark,20".parse::<Person>().unwrap();
    println!("{:?}", p);
}

try_from_into.rs

Here is the TryFrom that I briefly introduced before!

The difference with From is that this May return Err if conversion fails.

/* file: "exercises/conversions/try_from_into.rs" */
use std::convert::{TryFrom, TryInto};

#[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
struct Color {
    red: u8,
    green: u8,
    blue: u8,
}

// We will use this error type for these `TryFrom` conversions.
#[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
enum IntoColorError {
    // Incorrect length of slice
    BadLen,
    // Integer conversion error
    IntConversion,
}

// Tuple implementation
impl TryFrom<(i16, i16, i16)> for Color {
    type Error = IntoColorError;
    fn try_from(tuple: (i16, i16, i16)) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
        let (red, green, blue) = tuple;

        for color in [red, green, blue] {
            if !(0..=255).contains(&color) {
                return Err(IntoColorError::IntConversion);
            }
        }
        Ok(Self {
            red: tuple.0 as u8,
            green: tuple.1 as u8,
            blue: tuple.2 as u8,
        })
    }
}

// Array implementation
impl TryFrom<[i16; 3]> for Color {
    type Error = IntoColorError;
    fn try_from(arr: [i16; 3]) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
        for color in arr {
            if !(0..=255).contains(&color) {
                return Err(IntoColorError::IntConversion);
            }
        }
        Ok(Self {
            red: arr[0] as u8,
            green: arr[1] as u8,
            blue: arr[2] as u8,
        })
    }
}

// Slice implementation
impl TryFrom<&[i16]> for Color {
    type Error = IntoColorError;
    fn try_from(slice: &[i16]) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
        if slice.len() != 3 {
            return Err(IntoColorError::BadLen);
        }
        for color in slice {
            if !(0..=255).contains(color) {
                return Err(IntoColorError::IntConversion);
            }
        }
        Ok(Self {
            red: slice[0] as u8,
            green: slice[1] as u8,
            blue: slice[2] as u8,
        })
    }
}

fn main() {
    // Use the `from` function
    let c1 = Color::try_from((183, 65, 14));
    println!("{:?}", c1);

    // Since TryFrom is implemented for Color, we should be able to use TryInto
    let c2: Result<Color, _> = [183, 65, 14].try_into();
    println!("{:?}", c2);

    let v = vec![183, 65, 14];
    // With slice we should use `try_from` function
    let c3 = Color::try_from(&v[..]);
    println!("{:?}", c3);
    // or take slice within round brackets and use TryInto
    let c4: Result<Color, _> = (&v[..]).try_into();
    println!("{:?}", c4);
}

as_ref_mut.rs

For today’s last exercise, it’s time to use AsRef & AsMut.

They are used to convert (mutable) reference-to-reference.

Nothing much to say about the exercise itself…
You just put <T: AsRef<str>> into function signature.

/* file: "exercises/conversions/as_ref_mut.rs" */
fn byte_counter<T: AsRef<str>>(arg: T) -> usize {
    arg.as_ref().as_bytes().len()
}

// Obtain the number of characters (not bytes) in the given argument
// Add the AsRef trait appropriately as a trait bound
fn char_counter<T: AsRef<str>>(arg: T) -> usize {
    arg.as_ref().chars().count()
}

fn main() {
    let s = "Café au lait";
    println!("{}", char_counter(s));
    println!("{}", byte_counter(s));
}

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