Visualizing Rust's Vtables: How dyn Trait Works In Memory
This article explores how Rust handles polymorphism and memory management by comparing it to C++ virtual tables. The author provides a technical deep dive into how 'dyn Trait' functions in memory to help developers better understand Rust's underlying mechanics.
Why it matters
Understanding memory layout is crucial for systems programmers to write efficient and safe code in modern languages like Rust.
Sep 04, 2026 13 minute read I'm venturing into Rust and it's both satisfying and mind-boggling at the same time. So far I've been learning from the book and Mara Bos' book , but I got the itch to do some dissecting myself. My initial goal of these experiments was to compare Rust's approach to polymorphism with C++'s. Ultimately, however, as I've come to realize, it's a bit of a trap when trying to understand a new language through another one to try to draw 1:1 parallels. It might seem like it helps, but at the end of the day, we can't treat Rust as C++ with different syntax. If that were the case, there'd be nothing revolutionary about it.
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