`dyn Trait` for Dynamic Dispatch in Rust

// Copyright 2025 Google LLC
// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0

pub trait Trait {}

impl Trait for i32 {}
impl Trait for String {}

fn main() {
    let int: &dyn Trait = &42i32;
    let string: &dyn Trait = &String::from("Hello dyn!");;
}

Dynamic Dispatch is a tool in Object Oriented Programming that is often used in places where one needs to care more about the behavior of a type than what the type is.

In OOP languages, dynamic dispatch is often an implicit process and not something you can opt out of.

In Rust, we use dyn Trait: an opt-in form of dynamic dispatch.
For any trait that is dyn compatible we can coerce a reference to a value of that trait into a dyn Trait value.
We call these trait objects. Their type is not known at compile time, but their behavior is: what is implemented by the trait itself.
When you need OOP-style heterogeneous data structures, you can reach for Box<dyn Trait>, but try to keep it homogeneous and generic-based first!

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dyn Trait for Dynamic Dispatch in Rust

`dyn Trait` for Dynamic Dispatch in Rust