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99 changes: 91 additions & 8 deletions src/doc/trpl/variable-bindings.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
% Variable Bindings

Virtually every non-'Hello World’ Rust program uses *variable bindings*. They
look like this:
bind some value to a name, so it can be used later. `let` is
used to introduce a binding, just like this:

```rust
fn main() {
Expand All @@ -13,10 +14,12 @@ Putting `fn main() {` in each example is a bit tedious, so we’ll leave that ou
in the future. If you’re following along, make sure to edit your `main()`
function, rather than leaving it off. Otherwise, you’ll get an error.

In many languages, this is called a *variable*, but Rust’s variable bindings
have a few tricks up their sleeves. For example the left-hand side of a `let`
expression is a ‘[pattern][pattern]’, not just a variable name. This means we
can do things like:
# Patterns

In many languages, a variable binding would be called a *variable*, but Rust’s
variable bindings have a few tricks up their sleeves. For example the
left-hand side of a `let` expression is a ‘[pattern][pattern]’, not just a
variable name. This means we can do things like:

```rust
let (x, y) = (1, 2);
Expand All @@ -29,6 +32,8 @@ of our minds as we go forward.

[pattern]: patterns.html

# Type annotations

Rust is a statically typed language, which means that we specify our types up
front, and they’re checked at compile time. So why does our first example
compile? Well, Rust has this thing called ‘type inference’. If it can figure
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -63,6 +68,8 @@ Note the similarities between this annotation and the syntax you use with
occasionally include them to help you understand what the types that Rust
infers are.

# Mutability

By default, bindings are *immutable*. This code will not compile:

```rust,ignore
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -97,9 +104,11 @@ out of the scope of this guide. In general, you can often avoid explicit
mutation, and so it is preferable in Rust. That said, sometimes, mutation is
what you need, so it’s not verboten.

Let’s get back to bindings. Rust variable bindings have one more aspect that
differs from other languages: bindings are required to be initialized with a
value before you're allowed to use them.
# Initializing bindings

Rust variable bindings have one more aspect that differs from other languages:
bindings are required to be initialized with a value before you're allowed to
use them.

Let’s try it out. Change your `src/main.rs` file to look like this:

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -167,3 +176,77 @@ For now, we'll just stick to the default: integers aren't very complicated to
print.

[format]: ../std/fmt/index.html

# Scope and shadowing

Let’s get back to bindings. Variable bindings have a scope - they are
constrained to live in a block they were defined in. A block is a collection
of statements enclosed by `{` and `}`. Function definitions are also blocks!
In the following example we define two variable bindings, `x` and `y`, which
live in different blocks. `x` can be accessed from inside the `fn main() {}`
block, while `y` can be accessed only from inside the inner block:

```rust,ignore
fn main() {
let x: i32 = 17;
{
let y: i32 = 3;
println!("The value of x is {} and value of y is {}", x, y);
}
println!("The value of x is {} and value of y is {}", x, y); // This won't work
}
```

The first `println!` would print "The value of x is 17 and the value of y is
3", but this example cannot be compiled successfully, because the second
`println!` cannot access the value of `y`, since it is not in scope anymore.
Instead we get this error:

```bash
$ cargo build
Compiling hello v0.1.0 (file:///home/you/projects/hello_world)
main.rs:7:62: 7:63 error: unresolved name `y`. Did you mean `x`? [E0425]
main.rs:7 println!("The value of x is {} and value of y is {}", x, y); // This won't work
^
note: in expansion of format_args!
<std macros>:2:25: 2:56 note: expansion site
<std macros>:1:1: 2:62 note: in expansion of print!
<std macros>:3:1: 3:54 note: expansion site
<std macros>:1:1: 3:58 note: in expansion of println!
main.rs:7:5: 7:65 note: expansion site
main.rs:7:62: 7:63 help: run `rustc --explain E0425` to see a detailed explanation
error: aborting due to previous error
Could not compile `hello`.

To learn more, run the command again with --verbose.
```

Additionaly, variable bindings can be shadowed. This means that a later
variable binding with the same name as another binding, that's currently in
scope, will override the previous binding.

```rust
let x: i32 = 8;
{
println!("{}", x); // Prints "8"
let x = 12;
println!("{}", x); // Prints "12"
}
println!("{}", x); // Prints "8"
let x = 42;
println!("{}", x); // Prints "42"
```

Shadowing and mutable bindings may appear as two sides of the same coin, but
they are two distinct concepts that can't always be used interchangeably. For
one, shadowing enables us to rebind a name to a value of a different type. It
is also possible to change the mutability of a binding.

```rust
let mut x: i32 = 1;
x = 7;
let x = x; // x is now immutable and is bound to 7

let y = 4;
let y = "I can also be bound to text!"; // y is now of a different type
```