What is ownership and borrowing in Rust?

What is ownership and borrowing in Rust?

Ownership in Rust is a set of rules that governs how memory is managed. Each value in Rust has a single owner, and when the owner goes out of scope, the value is dropped. Borrowing allows you to temporarily use a value without taking ownership.

Can you explain the difference between mutable and immutable borrowing?

Sure! Immutable borrowing allows multiple references to a value without changing it, while mutable borrowing allows only one reference that can modify the value. This ensures safety and prevents data races.

What happens if I try to borrow a value mutably while it's already borrowed immutably?

If you try to borrow a value mutably while it's already borrowed immutably, the Rust compiler will throw an error. This prevents potential data races and ensures memory safety.

Can you give me an example of ownership in action?

Absolutely! Here's a simple example: when you assign a variable to another, the ownership moves. For instance, if you have let x = String::from("hello"); and then let y = x;, x can no longer be used because y now owns the string.