Rust Platform

🎯 In Python, functions work with any type by default — duck typing:

def middle(items):
    if not items:
        return None
    return items[len(items) // 2]

middle([10, 20, 30])          # 20
middle(["a", "b", "c", "d"]) # "b"

No type annotations needed. If it has __getitem__, it works. If it doesn't — runtime error.

Rust's approach is different: generic functions work with many types, but the compiler verifies at compile time that each type supports the operations you use. The <T> syntax declares a type parameter:

fn middle<T>(items: &[T]) -> Option<&T> {
    if items.is_empty() {
        None
    } else {
        Some(&items[items.len() / 2])
    }
}

This works with &[i32], &[String], &[bool] — any slice type. The compiler generates …