| Per [RFC 401][rfc401], if you have a function declaration `foo`: |
| |
| ``` |
| struct S; |
| |
| // For the purposes of this explanation, all of these |
| // different kinds of `fn` declarations are equivalent: |
| |
| fn foo(x: S) { /* ... */ } |
| extern "C" { |
| fn foo(x: S); |
| } |
| impl S { |
| fn foo(self) { /* ... */ } |
| } |
| ``` |
| |
| the type of `foo` is **not** `fn(S)`, as one might expect. |
| Rather, it is a unique, zero-sized marker type written here as `typeof(foo)`. |
| However, `typeof(foo)` can be _coerced_ to a function pointer `fn(S)`, |
| so you rarely notice this: |
| |
| ``` |
| let x: fn(S) = foo; // OK, coerces |
| ``` |
| |
| The reason that this matter is that the type `fn(S)` is not specific to |
| any particular function: it's a function _pointer_. So calling `x()` results |
| in a virtual call, whereas `foo()` is statically dispatched, because the type |
| of `foo` tells us precisely what function is being called. |
| |
| As noted above, coercions mean that most code doesn't have to be |
| concerned with this distinction. However, you can tell the difference |
| when using **transmute** to convert a fn item into a fn pointer. |
| |
| This is sometimes done as part of an FFI: |
| |
| ``` |
| extern "C" fn foo(userdata: Box<i32>) { |
| /* ... */ |
| } |
| |
| unsafe { |
| let f: extern "C" fn(*mut i32) = transmute(foo); |
| callback(f); |
| } |
| ``` |
| |
| Here, transmute is being used to convert the types of the fn arguments. |
| This pattern is incorrect because the type of `foo` is a function **item** |
| (`typeof(foo)`), which is zero-sized, and the target type (`fn()`) |
| is a function pointer, which is not zero-sized. |
| This pattern should be rewritten. There are a few possible ways to do this: |
| |
| - change the original fn declaration to match the expected signature, |
| and do the cast in the fn body (the preferred option) |
| - cast the fn item of a fn pointer before calling transmute, as shown here: |
| |
| ``` |
| let f: extern "C" fn(*mut i32) = transmute(foo as extern "C" fn(_)); |
| let f: extern "C" fn(*mut i32) = transmute(foo as usize); // works too |
| ``` |
| |
| The same applies to transmutes to `*mut fn()`, which were observed in practice. |
| Note though that use of this type is generally incorrect. |
| The intention is typically to describe a function pointer, but just `fn()` |
| alone suffices for that. `*mut fn()` is a pointer to a fn pointer. |
| (Since these values are typically just passed to C code, however, this rarely |
| makes a difference in practice.) |
| |
| [rfc401]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/blob/master/text/0401-coercions.md |