Arrays and for Loops
We saw that an array can be declared like this:
#![allow(unused)] fn main() { let array = [10, 20, 30]; }
You can print such an array by asking for its debug representation with {:?}:
fn main() { let array = [10, 20, 30]; println!("array: {array:?}"); }
Rust lets you iterate over things like arrays and ranges using the for
keyword:
fn main() { let array = [10, 20, 30]; print!("Iterating over array:"); for n in &array { print!(" {n}"); } println!(); print!("Iterating over range:"); for i in 0..3 { print!(" {}", array[i]); } println!(); }
Use the above to write a function pretty_print which pretty-print a matrix and
a function transpose which will transpose a matrix (turn rows into columns):
Hard-code both functions to operate on 3 × 3 matrices.
Copy the code below to https://play.rust-lang.org/ and implement the functions:
// TODO: remove this when you're done with your implementation. #![allow(unused_variables, dead_code)] fn transpose(matrix: [[i32; 3]; 3]) -> [[i32; 3]; 3] { unimplemented!() } fn pretty_print(matrix: &[[i32; 3]; 3]) { unimplemented!() } fn main() { let matrix = [ [101, 102, 103], // <-- the comment makes rustfmt add a newline [201, 202, 203], [301, 302, 303], ]; println!("matrix:"); pretty_print(&matrix); let transposed = transpose(matrix); println!("transposed:"); pretty_print(&transposed); }
Bonus Question
Could you use &[i32] slices instead of hard-coded 3 × 3 matrices for your
argument and return types? Something like &[&[i32]] for a two-dimensional
slice-of-slices. Why or why not?
See the ndarray crate for a production quality
implementation.
The solution and the answer to the bonus section are available in the Solution section.
The use of the reference &array within for n in &array is a subtle
preview of issues of ownership that will come later in the afternoon.
Without the &…
- The loop would have been one that consumes the array. This is a change introduced in the 2021 Edition.
- An implicit array copy would have occurred.  Since i32is a copy type, then[i32; 3]is also a copy type.