Managed ======= _managed_ is a library that provides a way to logically own objects, whether or not heap allocation is available. Motivation ---------- The _managed_ library exists at the intersection of three concepts: _heap-less environments_, _collections_ and _generic code_. Consider this struct representing a network interface: ```rust pub struct Interface<'a, 'b: 'a, DeviceT: Device, ProtocolAddrsT: BorrowMut<[IpAddress]>, SocketsT: BorrowMut<[Socket<'a, 'b>]> > { device: DeviceT, hardware_addr: EthernetAddress, protocol_addrs: ProtocolAddrsT, sockets: SocketsT, phantom: PhantomData> } ``` There are three things the struct `Interface` is parameterized over: * an object implementing the trait `DeviceT`, which it owns; * a slice of `IPAddress`es, which it either owns or borrows mutably; * a slice of `Socket`s, which it either owns or borrows mutably, and which further either own or borrow some memory. The motivation for using `BorrowMut` is that in environments with heap, the struct ought to own a `Vec`; on the other hand, without heap there is neither `Vec` nor `Box`, and it is only possible to use a `&mut`. Both of these implement BorrowMut. Note that owning a `BorrowMut` in this way does not hide the concrete type inside `BorrowMut`; if the slice is backed by a `Vec` then the `Vec` may still be resized by external code, although not the implementation of `Interface`. In isolation, this struct is easy to use. However, when combined with another codebase, perhaps embedded in a scheduler, problems arise. The type parameters have to go somewhere! There are two choices: * either the type parameters, whole lot of them, infect the scheduler and push ownership even higher in the call stack (self-mutably-borrowing structs are not usable in safe Rust, so the scheduler could not easily own the slices); * or the interface is owned as a boxed trait object, excluding heap-less systems. Clearly, both options are unsatisfying. Enter _managed_! Installation ------------ To use the _managed_ library in your project, add the following to `Cargo.toml`: ```toml [dependencies] managed = "0.1" ``` The default configuration assumes a hosted environment, for ease of evaluation. You probably want to disable default features and configure them one by one: ```toml [dependencies] managed = { version = "...", default-features = false, features = ["..."] } ``` ### Feature `std` The `std` feature enables use of `Box` and `Vec` through a dependency on the `std` crate. ### Feature `alloc` The `alloc` feature enables use of `Box` through a dependency on the `alloc` crate. This only works on nightly rustc. ### Feature `collections` The `collections` feature enables use of `Vec` through a dependency on the `collections` crate. This only works on nightly rustc. Usage ----- _managed_ is an interoperability crate: it does not include complex functionality but rather defines an interface that may be used by many downstream crates. It includes two enums: ```rust pub enum Managed<'a, T: 'a + ?Sized> { Borrowed(&'a mut T), #[cfg(/* Box available */)] Owned(Box), } pub enum ManagedSlice<'a, T: 'a> { Borrow(&'a mut [T]), #[cfg(/* Vec available */)] Owned(Vec) } ``` The enums have the `From` implementations from the corresponding types, and `Deref`/`DerefMut` implementations to the type `T`, as well as other helper methods; see the [full documentation][doc] for details. Of course, the enums can be always matched explicitly as well. [doc]: https://docs.rs/managed/ License ------- _managed_ is distributed under the terms of 0-clause BSD license. See [LICENSE-0BSD](LICENSE-0BSD.txt) for details.