2023 Jan 14

• Difference between impl and dyn: they call it static vs. dynamic dispatch. Static dispatch is that the rust compiler will copy code for each type that fits the impl type. Dynamic dispatch is that it will store a fat pointer to both the object and vtable of functions, i.e. it has to deference two pointers to call a function at runtime.

  • Most of the time wouldn’t you just want to use impl? Seems like adding extra code in compile time wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

    • Adding to this a week later: An example: let’s say you want to return different error types from a function. You couldn’t just do impl because you couldn’t statically dispatch, i.e. you couldn’t just make two different functions for each type because the returned type is determined at runtime.

  • What about Box<dyn Error>? I see that used often. Why?

• Helix. On one hand it’s sort of a distraction from the main work, but it’s also fun to learn something new. I think it could help while getting assimilated to rust-lightning if I knew how to navigate code easier. I could probably just get better at VS Code, but whatever.

• Along the same lines of using a terminal-based editor, going to actually commit to customizing my terminal setup, iTerm, or at least try it.

• Already realizing how much better iTerm is after just tweaking a few things. Also went through Helix tutor and it’s pretty interesting, and I get how a lot of things are intuitive like the guy in the video said.

• Spent way too much time deciding between themes for helix lol.