Decimal to Binary in Rust

Question

As a beginner in Rust i am trying to practice Rust with some little programs so here is my implementation of Decimal to Binary.

use std::io;
pub fn run() {
 let number = input("Enter an input");
 println!("{}", to_binary(number));
}
fn input(msg: &str) -> i32 {
 println!("{}", msg);
 let mut number = String::new();
 io::stdin()
 .read_line(&mut number)
 .expect("Failed to read input");
 match number.trim().parse() {
 Ok(num) => num,
 Err(_e) => panic!("Not a number"),
 }
}
fn to_binary(mut decimal: i32) -> i32 {
 if decimal == 0 {
 decimal
 } else {
 let mut bits = String::new();
 while decimal > 0 {
 if decimal % 2 == 0 {
 bits.push_str("0");
 } else {
 bits.push_str("1");
 }
 decimal /= 2;
 }
 // reverse the bits
 match bits.chars().rev().collect::<String>().parse() {
 Ok(num) => num,
 Err(_e) => panic!("Something went wrong"),
 }
 }
}

so feel free to advice anything you consider. i just have three questions in particular

1. isn't it better to write input as a macro ?

2. how can i write to_binary as pure function ?

3. wouldn't be better to return binary type from to_binary instead i32

• Zeta: Just to make sure: when you say you're a "beginner in Rust", are you also a beginner in general programming, or do you have previous programming experience?
• MAK: i have a little experience in general programing

Answer 1

isn't it better to write input as a macro ?

No. At best it might work as a generic function.

how can i write to_binary as pure function ?

It already is a pure function, it doesn't mutate or depend on external state

wouldn't be better to return binary type from to_binary instead i32

You should return a String. Converting to i32 is pretty weird. The numbers inside i32 are already in binary. The point of a to_binary function is pretty much always because you for some reason want a textual representation in binary.

As a quick side note, Rust already has the ability to convert values to binary:

format!("{:b}", value);

Your to_binary function would be a bit simpler if build a Vec or Vec and then converted that instead of building a String.