Merge pull request #409 from AlexandruGG/feature/box-exercise

exercises/standard_library_types/README.md

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+For the Box exercise check out the chapter [Using Box to Point to Data on the Heap](https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch15-01-box.html).
+
 For the Arc exercise check out the chapter [Shared-State Concurrency](https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch16-03-shared-state.html) of the Rust Book.
 
 For the Iterator exercise check out the chapters [Iterator](https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch13-02-iterators.html) of the Rust Book and the [Iterator documentation](https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/std/iter/).

exercises/standard_library_types/box1.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+// box1.rs
+//
+// At compile time, Rust needs to know how much space a type takes up. This becomes problematic
+// for recursive types, where a value can have as part of itself another value of the same type.
+// To get around the issue, we can use a `Box` - a smart pointer used to store data on the heap,
+// which also allows us to wrap a recursive type.
+//
+// The recursive type we're implementing in this exercise is the `cons list` - a data structure
+// frequently found in functional programming languages. Each item in a cons list contains two
+// elements: the value of the current item and the next item. The last item is a value called `Nil`.
+//
+// Step 1: use a `Box` in the enum definition to make the code compile
+// Step 2: create both empty and non-empty cons lists of by replacing `unimplemented!()`
+//
+// Note: the tests should not be changed
+//
+// Execute `rustlings hint box1` for hints :)
+
+// I AM NOT DONE
+
+#[derive(PartialEq, Debug)]
+pub enum List {
+    Cons(i32, List),
+    Nil,
+}
+
+fn main() {
+    println!("This is an empty cons list: {:?}", create_empty_list());
+    println!("This is a non-empty cons list: {:?}", create_non_empty_list());
+}
+
+pub fn create_empty_list() -> List {
+    unimplemented!()
+}
+
+pub fn create_non_empty_list() -> List {
+    unimplemented!()
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_create_empty_list() {
+        assert_eq!(List::Nil, create_empty_list())
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_create_non_empty_list() {
+        assert_ne!(create_empty_list(), create_non_empty_list())
+    }
+}