Rust: Making Illegal States Unrepresentable

2023/08/31

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The article discusses the concept of 'making illegal states unrepresentable' in Rust and how it can be applied to code. It explains that illegal state refers to situations where the code allows for invalid or incorrect data. The article provides an example of managing a list of users and highlights the issue of creating a user with an empty username. It then introduces the concept of defining custom types with stricter constraints to prevent illegal states. The article demonstrates how to create a custom type for usernames and shows how the compiler guides towards idiomatic Rust code. It also discusses adding constraints for other fields, such as birthdate, to further prevent illegal states. The article emphasizes the importance of handling errors at the lowest possible level and provides usage examples and documentation tips. Overall, it showcases how Rust's type system can help developers create more robust and error-free code.