Associated types
The use of "Associated types" improves the overall readability of code
by moving inner types locally into a trait as output types. Syntax
for the trait
definition is as follows:
#![allow(unused_variables)]
fn main() {
// `A` and `B` are defined in the trait via the `type` keyword.
// (Note: `type` in this context is different from `type` when used for
// aliases).
trait Contains {
type A;
type B;
// Updated syntax to refer to these new types generically.
fn contains(&self, &Self::A, &Self::B) -> bool;
}
}
Note that functions that use the trait
Contains
are no longer required
to express A
or B
at all:
// Without using associated types
fn difference<A, B, C>(container: &C) -> i32 where
C: Contains<A, B> { ... }
// Using associated types
fn difference<C: Contains>(container: &C) -> i32 { ... }
Let's rewrite the example from the previous section using associated types: