Implementing Deep Cloning in Rust

The Clone trait in Rust allows you to create a bitwise copy of a value. However, for types that contain references or pointers to other data, a simple bitwise copy (a shallow clone) might not be sufficient. This challenge focuses on implementing a "deep clone" behavior, ensuring that all owned data is duplicated, not just shared. This is crucial for scenarios where you need an independent copy of complex data structures.

Problem Description

Your task is to implement a deep cloning mechanism for a custom data structure in Rust. You will be provided with a struct that contains a String and a Vec<i32>. Your implementation should create a completely independent copy of this struct, meaning that the cloned struct's String and Vec<i32> should reside in separate memory locations from the original, and modifications to the cloned data should not affect the original.

Key Requirements:

• Implement a deep_clone method for the given struct.
• The deep_clone method should return a new instance of the struct.
• The new instance should contain copies of the String and Vec<i32> from the original. These copies must be distinct in memory.

Expected Behavior:

When deep_clone is called on an instance of the struct, a new instance with identical content should be returned. If you modify the String or Vec<i32> of the returned instance, the original instance's data should remain unchanged.

Edge Cases to Consider:

• An empty String.
• An empty Vec<i32>.

Examples

Example 1:

Input:
let original = MyStruct {
    name: String::from("Alice"),
    data: vec![1, 2, 3],
};

Output:
// After calling original.deep_clone()
let cloned = original.deep_clone();
// cloned.name should be "Alice"
// cloned.data should be vec![1, 2, 3]

Explanation: A new MyStruct is created with copies of "Alice" and [1, 2, 3].

Example 2:

Input:
let original = MyStruct {
    name: String::new(), // Empty string
    data: vec![],         // Empty vector
};

Output:
// After calling original.deep_clone()
let cloned = original.deep_clone();
// cloned.name should be ""
// cloned.data should be vec![]

Explanation: Handles empty string and vector correctly, creating empty copies.

Example 3:

Input:
let original = MyStruct {
    name: String::from("Bob"),
    data: vec![4, 5],
};
let mut cloned = original.deep_clone();

// Modify the cloned data
cloned.name.push_str(" Smith");
cloned.data.push(6);

Output:
// original.name should still be "Bob"
// original.data should still be vec![4, 5]
// cloned.name should be "Bob Smith"
// cloned.data should be vec![4, 5, 6]

Explanation: Demonstrates that modifications to the cloned instance do not affect the original.

Constraints

• The struct to be cloned will have the following definition:

  struct MyStruct {
      name: String,
      data: Vec<i32>,
  }
  

• You must implement a method named deep_clone that takes &self and returns Self.
• You are not allowed to derive Clone. You must implement the logic manually.
• Focus on correctness and clarity over extreme performance optimizations.

Notes

• Consider how String and Vec<i32> are handled in Rust. They own their data.
• Think about the difference between a shallow copy and a deep copy in the context of these owned types.
• Rust's standard library provides convenient methods for cloning owned types like String and Vec.