Merge pull request rust-lang#57 from petrochenkov/union

Add union items to the reference

Author: steveklabnik

src/items.md

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ There are several kinds of item:
 * [type definitions](#type-aliases)
 * [struct definitions](#structs)
 * [enumeration definitions](#enumerations)
+* [union definitions](#unions)
 * [constant items](#constant-items)
 * [static items](#static-items)
 * [trait definitions](#traits)
@@ -568,6 +569,150 @@ let x = Foo::Bar as u32; // x is now 123u32
 This only works as long as none of the variants have data attached. If
 it were `Bar(i32)`, this is disallowed.
 
+## Unions
+
+A union declaration uses the same syntax as a struct declaration, except with
+`union` in place of `struct`.
+
+```rust
+#[repr(C)]
+union MyUnion {
+    f1: u32,
+    f2: f32,
+}
+```
+
+The key property of unions is that all fields of a union share common storage.
+As a result writes to one field of a union can overwrite its other fields,
+and size of a union is determined by the size of its largest field.
+
+A value of a union type can be created using the same syntax that is used for
+struct types, except that it must specify exactly one field:
+
+```rust
+# union MyUnion { f1: u32, f2: f32 }
+
+let u = MyUnion { f1: 1 };
+```
+
+The expression above creates a value of type `MyUnion` with active field `f1`.
+Active field of a union can be accessed using the same syntax as struct fields:
+
+```rust,ignore
+let f = u.f1;
+```
+
+Inactive fields can be accessed as well (using the same syntax) if they are
+sufficiently layout compatible with the
+current value kept by the union. Reading incompatible fields results in
+undefined behavior.
+However, the active field is not generally known statically, so all reads of
+union fields have to be placed in `unsafe` blocks.
+
+```rust
+# union MyUnion { f1: u32, f2: f32 }
+# let u = MyUnion { f1: 1 };
+
+unsafe {
+    let f = u.f1;
+}
+```
+
+Writes to `Copy` union fields do not require reads for running destructors,
+so these writes don't have to be placed in `unsafe` blocks
+
+```rust
+# union MyUnion { f1: u32, f2: f32 }
+# let mut u = MyUnion { f1: 1 };
+
+u.f1 = 2;
+```
+
+Commonly, code using unions will provide safe wrappers around unsafe
+union field accesses.
+
+Another way to access union fields is to use pattern matching.
+Pattern matching on union fields uses the same syntax as struct patterns,
+except that the pattern must specify exactly one field.
+Since pattern matching accesses potentially inactive fields it has
+to be placed in `unsafe` blocks as well.
+
+```rust
+# union MyUnion { f1: u32, f2: f32 }
+
+fn f(u: MyUnion) {
+    unsafe {
+        match u {
+            MyUnion { f1: 10 } => { println!("ten"); }
+            MyUnion { f2 } => { println!("{}", f2); }
+        }
+    }
+}
+```
+
+Pattern matching may match a union as a field of a larger structure. In
+particular, when using a Rust union to implement a C tagged union via FFI, this
+allows matching on the tag and the corresponding field simultaneously:
+
+```rust
+#[repr(u32)]
+enum Tag { I, F }
+
+#[repr(C)]
+union U {
+    i: i32,
+    f: f32,
+}
+
+#[repr(C)]
+struct Value {
+    tag: Tag,
+    u: U,
+}
+
+fn is_zero(v: Value) -> bool {
+    unsafe {
+        match v {
+            Value { tag: I, u: U { i: 0 } } => true,
+            Value { tag: F, u: U { f: 0.0 } } => true,
+            _ => false,
+        }
+    }
+}
+```
+
+Since union fields share common storage, gaining write access to one
+field of a union can give write access to all its remaining fields.
+Borrow checking rules have to be adjusted to account for this fact.
+As a result, if one field of a union is borrowed, all its remaining fields
+are borrowed as well for the same lifetime.
+
+```rust,ignore
+// ERROR: cannot borrow `u` (via `u.f2`) as mutable more than once at a time
+fn test() {
+    let mut u = MyUnion { f1: 1 };
+    unsafe {
+        let b1 = &mut u.f1;
+                      ---- first mutable borrow occurs here (via `u.f1`)
+        let b2 = &mut u.f2;
+                      ^^^^ second mutable borrow occurs here (via `u.f2`)
+        *b1 = 5;
+    }
+    - first borrow ends here
+    assert_eq!(unsafe { u.f1 }, 5);
+}
+```
+
+As you could see, in many aspects (except for layouts, safety and ownership)
+unions behave exactly like structs, largely as a consequence of inheriting their
+syntactic shape from structs.
+This is also true for many unmentioned aspects of Rust language (such as
+privacy, name resolution, type inference, generics, trait implementations,
+inherent implementations, coherence, pattern checking, etc etc etc).
+
+More detailed specification for unions, including unstable bits, can be found in
+[RFC 1897 "Unions v1.2"](https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/1897).
+
 ## Constant items
 
 A *constant item* is a named _constant value_ which is not associated with a