Lifetime

Definitions

1. In Rust, a compile-time annotation that tracks how long a reference is valid, preventing dangling pointers and use-after-free bugs without a garbage collector.

   In plain English: A Rust feature that tells the compiler how long a piece of data will stick around, so it can guarantee you never access memory that's been freed.

   Example: "I spent three hours fighting the borrow checker over lifetime annotations, but at least my code won't segfault."

Related Terms

• Borrowing
• Cargo
• Discriminant
• Ownership
• Unsafe
• Mutable
• Overflow
• Rust Borrow Checker
• Rust Lifetime
• Rust Unsafe
• Unwrap
• Variable Shadowing
• Code Ownership