Compound Data Type

Array

  • It is collection of same data type.

  • Its elements are stored in order.

  • It is stored in contiguous memory.

  • It has a fixed length.

// create a char array
let letters = ['a', 'b', 'c'];

// define an array than contains 5 i32 integer.
let nums: [i32; 5];

// initialize the array with 0.
nums = [0; 5];

To get the length of an array, use len():

let len: usize = nums.len();

The size usize is based on the processor. For 32-bit processor, it's 4 btypes. For 64-bit processor, it's 8 btypes.

Multidimensional Array

// create a two dimensional array with the size of 3 * 2
let map = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]];

// define a three dimensional array with the size of 3 * 4 * 2
let store: [[[i32; 3]; 4]; 2]

// initialize the store with 0
store = [[[0; 3]; 4]; 2]

Tuple

  • It groups items of mixed data types.

  • Its elements are ordered.

  • It is stored in fixed length, contiguous memory.

  • Data types of elements must be known at compile time.

let stuff: (u8, f32, char) = (1, 3.14, 'a');
let first_item = stuff.0;

Destruction

let (a, b, c) = stuff;