Make invalid states unrepresentable in Rust

Rust, a language known for its powerful type system and high-quality error messages, offers developers a useful tool for reducing bugs and improving code quality. By making invalid states unrepresentable, developers can minimize the gap between the set of representable states and the set of valid states in their applications.

In Rust, types define the set of legally representable states in an application. This includes types from the standard library, third-party libraries, language primitives, and custom types. However, the set of valid states that the business logic can handle may be smaller than the set of representable states.

To address this, developers can choose to increase the number of cases handled by the code or decrease the number of representable states. In this article, we will focus on the latter strategy: decreasing the number of representable states to reduce bugs.

By moving errors from runtime to compile-time, developers can catch potential issues earlier in the development process. For example, consider a function that accepts a color as input. If the function currently takes a string, it will require parsing logic and error handling. By introducing a custom type for colors, developers can make invalid color states unrepresentable, eliminating the need for parsing and reducing the chance of errors.

Rust's type-driven development approach empowers developers to write safer and more reliable code. By leveraging the language's powerful type system, developers can make use of the compiler's error messages to guide them towards better code practices. This not only improves code quality but also enhances developer productivity.

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