Arrays & Slices

Array

• An array is a collection of objects of the same type T, stored in contiguous memory.

• Arrays are created using brackets [], and their length, which is known at compile time, is part of their type signature [T; length].

• Arrays are stack allocated.

• Arrays own their data.

• Arrays can be automatically borrowed as slices.

  let m = [1, 2, 3]; // Rust will infer the type and length
  let n: [i32; 3] = [1, 2, 3];

Slice

• Slices are similar to arrays, but their length is not known at compile time.

• Slices are views into data; they do not own the data.

• Slices are references and follow Rust's borrowing rules.

• Slices are a fat pointer:

  • A reference to the start of the data.

  • The length of the slice.

  let x = [1, 2, 3];
  let slice = &x[1..]; // A slice starting from index 1

Reference

• https://doc.rust-lang.org/rust-by-example/primitives/array.html