this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
19 points (100.0% liked)

Rust Lang

139 readers
1 users here now

Rules [Developing]

Observe our code of conduct

Constructive criticism only

No endless relitigation

No low-effort content

No memes or image macros

No NSFW Content

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
19
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Kerfuffle to c/[email protected]
 

I recently ran into an issue where I wanted to use Any for slices. However, it only allows 'static types (based on what I read, this is because you get the same TypeId regardless of lifetimes).

I came up with this workaround which I think is safe:

use std::{
    any::{Any, TypeId},
    marker::PhantomData,
};

#[derive(Clone, Debug)]
pub struct AnySlice<'a> {
    tid: TypeId,
    len: usize,
    ptr: *const (),
    marker: PhantomData<&'a ()>,
}

impl<'a> AnySlice<'a> {
    pub fn from_slice(s: &'a [T]) -> Self {
        Self {
            len: s.len(),
            ptr: s.as_ptr() as *const (),
            tid: TypeId::of::(),
            marker: PhantomData,
        }
    }

    pub fn as_slice(&self) -> Option<&'a [T]> {
        if TypeId::of::() != self.tid {
            return None;
        }
        Some(unsafe { std::slice::from_raw_parts(self.ptr as *const T, self.len) })
    }

    pub fn is(&self) -> bool {
        TypeId::of::() == self.tid
    }
}

edit: Unfortunately it seems like Lemmy insists on mangling the code block. See the playground link below.

T: Any ensures T is also 'static. The lifetime is preserved with PhantomData. Here's a playground link with some simple tests and a mut version: https://play.rust-lang.org/?version=stable&mode=debug&edition=2021&gist=3116a404c28317c46dbba6ed6824c8a9

It seems to pass Miri, including the mut version (which requires a bit more care to ensure there can only be one mutable reference). Any problems with doing this?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] Kerfuffle 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I could just use Any for that since Vec is 'static as long as the items are (and I don't think you could use anyvec if the tiems weren't static).

I asked in the Rust Discord channels and it seems like my approach is fine. Even the mutable version is okay and doesn't need to be unsafe if it returns the reference with self's lifetime.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I asked in the Rust Discord channels and it seems like my approach is fine. Even the mutable version is okay and doesn’t need to be unsafe if it returns the reference with self’s lifetime.

Then maybe publish it as a mini-crate (e.g. any-slice), ideally with a link to the discussion that proves that it is sound.