Improve wording for the "Trait objects" section of the reference.

This commit is contained in:
Nick Hamann 2015-05-12 21:47:25 -05:00
parent 857a12a01e
commit b2f486feaf

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@ -3510,13 +3510,21 @@ more of the closure traits:
### Trait objects
Every trait item (see [traits](#traits)) defines a type with the same name as
the trait. This type is called the _trait object_ of the trait. Trait objects
permit "late binding" of methods, dispatched using _virtual method tables_
("vtables"). Whereas most calls to trait methods are "early bound" (statically
resolved) to specific implementations at compile time, a call to a method on an
trait objects is only resolved to a vtable entry at compile time. The actual
implementation for each vtable entry can vary on an object-by-object basis.
In Rust, a type like `&SomeTrait` or `Box<SomeTrait>` is called a _trait object_.
Each instance of a trait object includes:
- a pointer to an instance of a type `T` that implements `SomeTrait`
- a _virtual method table_, often just called a _vtable_, which contains, for
each method of `SomeTrait` that `T` implements, a pointer to `T`'s
implementation (i.e. a function pointer).
The purpose of trait objects is to permit "late binding" of methods. A call to
a method on a trait object is only resolved to a vtable entry at compile time.
The actual implementation for each vtable entry can vary on an object-by-object
basis.
Note that for a trait object to be instantiated, the trait must be
_object-safe_. Object safety rules are defined in [RFC 255][rfc255].
Given a pointer-typed expression `E` of type `&T` or `Box<T>`, where `T`
implements trait `R`, casting `E` to the corresponding pointer type `&R` or