Improve interior mutability slide (#1683)

Mutex is probably more broadly understood by people coming from other
languages.

Fixes #1512.

src/borrowing/interior-mutability.md

@@ -2,26 +2,17 @@
 minutes: 10
 ---
 
-<!-- NOTES:
-Introduce the concept, with an example based on Mutex showing an `&self` method doing mutation; reference Cell/RefCell without detail.
--->
-
 # Interior Mutability
 
-Rust provides a few safe means of modifying a value given only a shared
-reference to that value. All of these replace compile-time checks with runtime
-checks.
+In some situations, it's necessary to modify data behind a shared (read-only)
+reference. For example, a shared data structure might have an internal cache,
+and wish to update that cache from read-only methods.
 
-## `Cell` and `RefCell`
+The "interior mutability" pattern allows exclusive (mutable) access behind a
+shared reference. The standard library provides several ways to do this, all
+while still ensuring safety, typically by performing a runtime check.
 
-[`Cell`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/cell/struct.Cell.html) and
-[`RefCell`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/cell/struct.RefCell.html) implement
-what Rust calls _interior mutability:_ mutation of values in an immutable
-context.
-
-`Cell` is typically used for simple types, as it requires copying or moving
-values. More complex interior types typically use `RefCell`, which tracks shared
-and exclusive references at runtime and panics if they are misused.
+## `RefCell`
 
 ```rust,editable
 use std::cell::RefCell;
@@ -56,16 +47,34 @@ fn main() {
 }
 ```
 
+## `Cell`
+
+`Cell` wraps a value and allows getting or setting the value, even with a shared
+reference to the `Cell`. However, it does not allow any references to the value.
+Since there are no references, borrowing rules cannot be broken.
+
 <details>
 
-- If we were using `Cell` instead of `RefCell` in this example, we would have to
-  move the `Node` out of the `Rc` to push children, then move it back in. This
-  is safe because there's always one, un-referenced value in the cell, but it's
-  not ergonomic.
-- To do anything with a Node, you must call a `RefCell` method, usually `borrow`
-  or `borrow_mut`.
+The main thing to take away from this slide is that Rust provides _safe_ ways to
+modify data behind a shared reference. There are a variety of ways to ensure
+that safety, and `RefCell` and `Cell` are two of them.
+
+- `RefCell` enforces Rust's usual borrowing rules (either multiple shared
+  references or a single exclusive reference) with a runtime check. In this
+  case, all borrows are very short and never overlap, so the checks always
+  succeed.
+
+- `Rc` only allows shared (read-only) access to its contents, since its purpose
+  is to allow (and count) many references. But we want to modify the value, so
+  we need interior mutability.
+
+- `Cell` is a simpler means to ensure safety: it has a `set` method that takes
+  `&self`. This needs no runtime check, but requires moving values, which can
+  have its own cost.
+
 - Demonstrate that reference loops can be created by adding `root` to
-  `subtree.children` (don't try to print it!).
+  `subtree.children`.
+
 - To demonstrate a runtime panic, add a `fn inc(&mut self)` that increments
   `self.value` and calls the same method on its children. This will panic in the
   presence of the reference loop, with

src/concurrency/shared_state/mutex.md

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 # `Mutex`
 
 [`Mutex<T>`][1] ensures mutual exclusion _and_ allows mutable access to `T`
-behind a read-only interface:
+behind a read-only interface (another form of
+[interior mutability](../../borrowing/interior-mutability)):
 
 ```rust,editable
 use std::sync::Mutex;