Continue drafting wor

_drafts/understanding-allocations-in-rust.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 layout: post
-title: "Understanding Allocations"
+title: "Understanding Heap Allocations in Rust"
 description: "An introduction to the Rust memory model"
 category: 
 tags: [rust]
@@ -8,33 +8,72 @@ tags: [rust]
 
 There's an alchemy of distilling complex technical topics into articles and videos
 that change the way programmers see the tools they interact with on a regular basis.
-I've known what a linker was, but there's a staggering complexity to get from
+I knew what a linker was, but there's a staggering complexity to get from
-[source code to `main()`](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOfucXtyEsU). Rust programmers
+[from `main()` to an executable](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOfucXtyEsU).
-use the [`Box`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/std/boxed/struct.Box.html) type
+Rust programmers use the [`Box`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/std/boxed/struct.Box.html)
-all the time, but there's a rich history of the Rust language itself wrapped up in
+type all the time, but there's a rich history of the Rust language itself wrapped up in
 [how special it is](https://manishearth.github.io/blog/2017/01/10/rust-tidbits-box-is-special/).
 
 In a similar vein, I want you to look at code and understand memory;
 the complex choreography of processor, operating system, and program that frees you
-to focus on functionality beyond rote book-keeping. The Rust compiler relieves a great deal
+to focus on functionality far beyond frivolous book-keeping. The Rust compiler relieves
-of the cognitive burden associated with memory management. Even so, let's make time
+a great deal of the cognitive burden associated with memory management, but let's make time
-to explore what's going on under the hood, so we can make better exploit the systems
+to explore what's going on under the hood.
-involved in the code we write.
 
 Let's learn a bit about allocating memory in Rust.
 
 # Table of Contents
 
 This post is intended as both guide and reference material; we'll work to establish
-an understanding of how Rust makes use of memory in a program, then summarize each
+an understanding of the different memory types Rust makes use of, then summarize each
 section for easy citation in the future. To that end, a table of contents is provided
 to assist in easy navigation:
 
-- [Distinguishing regions of memory](#distinguishing-regions-of-memory)
+- [Foreword](#foreword)
-- Rust and the Stack
+- Non-Heap Memory Types
-- Rust and the Heap
+- Piling On - the Heap in Rust
-- Understanding Compiler Optimizations
+- Compiler Optimizations Make Everything Complicated
-- Summary: When does Rust allocate?
+- Summary: When Does Rust Allocate?
+- Appendix and Further Reading
+
+# Foreword
+
+There's a simple way to guarantee you never need to know the content
+of this article:
+
+1. Only write `#![no_std]` crates
+2. Never use `unsafe`
+3. Never use `#![feature(alloc)]`
+
+For some uses of Rust, typically embedded devices, these constraints make sense.
+They're working with very limited memory, and the program binary size itself may
+affect the memory available! There's no operating system able to manage the heap,
+but that's not an issue because your program is likely the only one running.
+The [embedonomicon] is ever in mind, and you just might interact with extra
+peripherals by reading and writing to exact memory addresses.
+
+Most Rust programs find these requirements overly burdensome though. C++ developers
+would struggle without access to [`std::vector`](https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/container/vector),
+and Rust developers would struggle without [`std::vec`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/vec/struct.Vec.html).
+But in this scenario, `std::vec` is actually part of the
+[`alloc` crate](https://doc.rust-lang.org/alloc/vec/struct.Vec.html), and thus off-limits.
+Or how would you use trait objects? Rust's monomorphization still works, but there's no
+[`Box<dyn Trait>`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/alloc/boxed/struct.Box.html)
+available to use for dynamic dispatch.
+
+Given a target audience of "basically every Rust developer," let's talk about
+some of the details you don't normally have to worry about. This article will focus
+on "safe" Rust only; `unsafe` mode allows you to make use of platform-specific
+allocation APIs (think [libc] and [winapi] implementations of [malloc]) that
+we'll ignore for the time being. We'll also assume a "debug" build of libraries
+and applications (what you get with `cargo run` and `cargo test`) and address
+"release" mode at the end (`cargo run --release` and `cargo test --release`).
+
+Finally, a caveat: while the details are unlikely to change, the Rust docs
+include a warning worth repeating here:
+
+> Rust does not currently have a rigorously and formally defined memory model.
+> - the [Rust docs](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/ptr/fn.read_volatile.html)
 
 # Distinguishing regions of memory
 
@@ -61,7 +100,13 @@ Questions:
 1. Where do collection types allocate memory?
 2. Does a Box<> always allocate heap?
 3. Passing Box<Trait> vs. genericizing/monomorphization
+4. Other pointer types? Do Rc<>/Arc<> force heap allocation?
 
 # Understanding compiler optimizations
 
-Example: Compiler stripping out allocations of Box<>, Vec::push()
+Example: Compiler stripping out allocations of Box<>, Vec::push()
+
+[embedonomicon]: https://docs.rust-embedded.org/embedonomicon/
+[libc]: CRATES.IO LINK
+[winapi]: CRATES.IO LINK
+[malloc]: MANPAGE LINK