Printing 'hello, world!'

When you start a new Rust program, it always has this code:

fn main() {
    println!("Hello, world!");
}

fn means function,
main is the function that starts the program,
() means that we didn't give the function any variables to start.

{} is called a code block. This is the space where code lives.

println! is a macro that prints to the console. A macro is like a function that writes code for you. Macros have a ! after them. We will learn about making macros later. For now, remember that ! means that it is a macro.

To learn about the ;, we will create another function. First, in main we will print a number 8:

fn main() {
    println!("Hello, world number {}!", 8);
}

The {} in println! means "put the variable inside here". This prints Hello, world number 8!.

We can put more in, just like we did before:

fn main() {
    println!("Hello, worlds number {} and {}!", 8, 9);
}

This prints Hello, worlds number 8 and 9!.

Now let's create the function.

fn number() -> i32 {
    8
}

fn main() {
    println!("Hello, world number {}!", number());
}

This also prints Hello, world number 8!. When Rust looks at number() it sees a function. This function:

Does not take anything (because it has ())
Returns an i32. The -> (called a "skinny arrow") shows what the function returns.

Inside the function is just 8. Because there is no ;, this is the value it returns. If it had a ;, it would not return anything (it would return a ()). Rust will not compile this if it has a ;, because the return is i32 and ; returns (), not i32:

fn main() {
    println!("Hello, world number {}", number());
}

fn number() -> i32 {
    8;  // ⚠️
}

5 | fn number() -> i32 {
  |    ------      ^^^ expected `i32`, found `()`
  |    |
  |    implicitly returns `()` as its body has no tail or `return` expression
6 |     8;
  |      - help: consider removing this semicolon

This means "you told me that number() returns an i32, but you added a ; so it doesn't return anything". So the compiler suggests removing the semicolon.

You can also write return 8; but in Rust it is normal to just remove the ; to return.

When you want to give variables to a function, put them inside the (). You have to give them a name and write the type.

fn multiply(number_one: i32, number_two: i32) { // Two i32s will enter the function. We will call them number_one and number_two.
    let result = number_one * number_two;
    println!("{} times {} is {}", number_one, number_two, result);
}

fn main() {
    multiply(8, 9); // We can give the numbers directly
    let some_number = 10; // Or we can declare two variables
    let some_other_number = 2;
    multiply(some_number, some_other_number); // and put them in the function
}

We can also return an i32. Just take out the semicolon at the end:

fn multiply(number_one: i32, number_two: i32) -> i32 {
    let result = number_one * number_two;
    println!("{} times {} is {}", number_one, number_two, result);
    result // this is the i32 that we return
}

fn main() {
    let multiply_result = multiply(8, 9); // We used multiply() to print and to give the result to multiply_result
}

Declaring variables and code blocks

Use let to declare a variable (declare a variable = tell Rust to make a variable).

fn main() {
    let my_number = 8;
    println!("Hello, number {}", my_number);
}

Variables start and end inside a code block {}. In this example, my_number ends before we call println!, because it is inside its own code block.

fn main() {
    {
        let my_number = 8; // my_number starts here
                           // my_number ends here!
    }

    println!("Hello, number {}", my_number); // ⚠️ there is no my_number and
                                             // println!() can't find it
}

You can use a code block to return a value:

fn main() {
    let my_number = {
    let second_number = 8;
        second_number + 9 // No semicolon, so the code block returns 8 + 9.
                          // It works just like a function
    };

    println!("My number is: {}", my_number);
}

If you add a semicolon inside the block, it will return () (nothing):

fn main() {
    let my_number = {
    let second_number = 8; // declare second_number,
        second_number + 9; // add 9 to second_number
                           // but we didn't return it!
                           // second_number dies now
    };

    println!("My number is: {:?}", my_number); // my_number is ()
}

So why did we write {:?} and not {}? We will talk about that now.

Easy Rust

Printing 'hello, world!'

Declaring variables and code blocks