CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rust
mildog8
mildog8

Reputation: 2154

Where does a reference to an empty data structure point to in memory

I've noticed some rust functions return references to empty data structures. I'm trying to get a sense for where references of these types point to in memory and why one would want to return a reference to an empty data structure in the first place. For instance where does &() point to in memory for the following Rust programs?

struct EmptyType;

impl Deref for EmptyType {
    type Target = ();

    fn deref(&self) -> &Self::Target {
        // where does this point to?
        &()
    }
}

fn main() {
    // where does &a point to
    let a = ();
}

Upvotes: 0

Views: 49

Answers (1)

Chayim Friedman
Chayim Friedman

Reputation: 70900

Nothing is guaranteed, but currently the first is pointing somewhere in the binary address space and the second somewhere on the stack.

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions