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# Introduction
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This book is the primary reference for the Rust programming language. It
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provides three kinds of material:
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This book is the primary reference for the Rust programming language.
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It provides three kinds of material:
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- Chapters that informally describe each language construct and their use.
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- Chapters that informally describe the memory model, concurrency model,
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runtime services, linkage model, and debugging facilities.
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- Appendix chapters providing rationale and references to languages that
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influenced the design.
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- Chapters that informally describe the memory model, concurrency model, runtime services, linkage model, and debugging facilities.
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- Appendix chapters providing rationale and references to languages that influenced the design.
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<divclass="warning">
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Warning: This book is incomplete. Documenting everything takes a while. See
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the [GitHub issues] for what is not documented in this book.
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Warning:
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This book is incomplete. Documenting everything takes a while.
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See the [GitHub issues] for what is not documented in this book.
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</div>
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## What *The Reference* is Not
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This book does not serve as an introduction to the language. Background
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familiarity with the language is assumed. A separate [book] is available to
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help acquire such background familiarity.
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This book does not serve as an introduction to the language.
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Background familiarity with the language is assumed.
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A separate [book] is available to help acquire such background familiarity.
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This book also does not serve as a reference to the [standard library]
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included in the language distribution. Those libraries are documented
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separately by extracting documentation attributes from their source code. Many
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of the features that one might expect to be language features are library
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features in Rust, so what you're looking for may be there, not here.
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This book also does not serve as a reference to the [standard library] included in the language distribution.
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Those libraries are documented separately by extracting documentation attributes from their source code.
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Many of the features that one might expect to be language features are library features in Rust, so what you're looking for may be there, not here.
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Similarly, this book does not usually document the specifics of `rustc` as a
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tool or of Cargo. `rustc` has its own [book][rustc book]. Cargo has a
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[book][cargo book] that contains a [reference][cargo reference]. There are a few
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pages such as [linkage] that still describe how `rustc` works.
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Similarly, this book does not usually document the specifics of `rustc` as a tool or of Cargo.
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`rustc` has its own [book][rustc book].
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Cargo has a [book][cargo book] that contains a [reference][cargo reference].
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There are a few pages such as [linkage] that still describe how `rustc` works.
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This book also only serves as a reference to what is available in stable
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Rust. For unstable features being worked on, see the [Unstable Book].
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This book also only serves as a reference to what is available in stable Rust.
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For unstable features being worked on, see the [Unstable Book].
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Rust compilers, including `rustc`, will perform optimizations. The reference
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does not specify what optimizations are allowed or disallowed. Instead, think of
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the compiled program as a black box. You can only probe by running it, feeding
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it input and observing its output. Everything that happens that way must conform
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to what the reference says.
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Rust compilers, including `rustc`, will perform optimizations.
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The reference does not specify what optimizations are allowed or disallowed.
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Instead, think of the compiled program as a black box.
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You can only probe by running it, feeding it input and observing its output.
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Everything that happens that way must conform to what the reference says.
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Finally, this book is not normative. It may include details that are
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specific to `rustc` itself, and should not be taken as a specification for
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the Rust language. We intend to produce such a book someday, and until then,
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the reference is the closest thing we have to one.
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Finally, this book is not normative.
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It may include details that are specific to `rustc` itself, and should not be taken as a specification for the Rust language.
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We intend to produce such a book someday, and until then, the reference is the closest thing we have to one.
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## How to Use This Book
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This book does not assume you are reading this book sequentially. Each
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chapter generally can be read standalone, but will cross-link to other chapters
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for facets of the language they refer to, but do not discuss.
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This book does not assume you are reading this book sequentially.
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Each chapter generally can be read standalone, but will cross-link to other chapters for facets of the language they refer to, but do not discuss.
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There are two main ways to read this document.
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The first is to answer a specific question. If you know which chapter answers
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that question, you can jump to that chapter in the table of contents. Otherwise,
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you can press `s` or the click the magnifying glass on the top bar to search for
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keywords related to your question. For example, say you wanted to know when a
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temporary value created in a let statement is dropped. If you didn't already
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know that the [lifetime of temporaries] is defined in the [expressions chapter],
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you could search "temporary let" and the first search result will take you to
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that section.
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The first is to answer a specific question.
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If you know which chapter answers that question, you can jump to that chapter in the table of contents.
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Otherwise, you can press `s` or the click the magnifying glass on the top bar to search for keywords related to your question.
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For example, say you wanted to know when a temporary value created in a let statement is dropped.
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If you didn't already know that the [lifetime of temporaries] is defined in the [expressions chapter], you could search "temporary let" and the first search result will take you to that section.
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The second is to generally improve your knowledge of a facet of the language.
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In that case, just browse the table of contents until you see something you
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want to know more about, and just start reading. If a link looks interesting,
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click it, and read about that section.
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In that case, just browse the table of contents until you see something you want to know more about, and just start reading.
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If a link looks interesting, click it, and read about that section.
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That said, there is no wrong way to read this book. Read it however you feel
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helps you best.
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That said, there is no wrong way to read this book. Read it however you feel helps you best.
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### Conventions
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Like all technical books, this book has certain conventions in how it displays
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information. These conventions are documented here.
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Like all technical books, this book has certain conventions in how it displays information.
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These conventions are documented here.
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* Statements that define a term contain that term in *italics*. Whenever that
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term is used outside of that chapter, it is usually a link to the section that
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has this definition.
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* Statements that define a term contain that term in *italics*.
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Whenever that term is used outside of that chapter, it is usually a link to the section that has this definition.
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An *example term* is an example of a term being defined.
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* Differences in the language by which edition the crate is compiled under are
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in a blockquote that start with the words "Edition Differences:" in **bold**.
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* Differences in the language by which edition the crate is compiled under are in a blockquote that start with the words "Edition Differences:" in **bold**.
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> **Edition Differences**: In the 2015 edition, this syntax is valid that is
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> disallowed as of the 2018 edition.
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> **Edition Differences**: In the 2015 edition, this syntax is valid that is disallowed as of the 2018 edition.
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* Notes that contain useful information about the state of the book or point out
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useful, but mostly out of scope, information are in blockquotes that start
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with the word "Note:" in **bold**.
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* Notes that contain useful information about the state of the book or point out useful, but mostly out of scope, information are in blockquotes that start with the word "Note:" in **bold**.
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> **Note**: This is an example note.
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* Warnings that show unsound behavior in the language or possibly confusing
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interactions of language features are in a special warning box.
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* Warnings that show unsound behavior in the language or possibly confusing interactions of language features are in a special warning box.
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<divclass="warning">
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* Code snippets inline in the text are inside `<code>` tags.
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Longer code examples are in a syntax highlighted box that has controls for
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copying, executing, and showing hidden lines in the top right corner.
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Longer code examples are in a syntax highlighted box that has controls for copying, executing, and showing hidden lines in the top right corner.
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```rust
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# // This is a hidden line.
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}
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```
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* The grammar and lexical structure is in blockquotes with either "Lexer" or
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"Syntax" in <sup>**bold superscript**</sup> as the first line.
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* The grammar and lexical structure is in blockquotes with either "Lexer" or "Syntax" in <sup>**bold superscript**</sup> as the first line.
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> **<sup>Syntax</sup>**\
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> _ExampleGrammar_:\
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We welcome contributions of all kinds.
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You can contribute to this book by opening an issue or sending a pull
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request to [the Rust Reference repository]. If this book does not answer
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your question, and you think its answer is in scope of it, please do not
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hesitate to [file an issue] or ask about it in the `t-lang/doc` stream on
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[Zulip]. Knowing what people use this book for the most helps direct our
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attention to making those sections the best that they can be. We also want
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the reference to be as normative as possible, so if you see anything that is
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wrong or is non-normative but not specifically called out, please also [file
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an issue].
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You can contribute to this book by opening an issue or sending a pull request to [the Rust Reference repository].
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If this book does not answer your question, and you think its answer is in scope of it, please do not hesitate to [file an issue] or ask about it in the `t-lang/doc` stream on [Zulip].
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Knowing what people use this book for the most helps direct our attention to making those sections the best that they can be.
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We also want the reference to be as normative as possible, so if you see anything that is wrong or is non-normative but not specifically called out, please also [file an issue].
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