Reverse Array In Place (Two Pointers)

Walk two indices toward each other from the ends of the array, swapping at each step. Stops when the indices meet or cross. Demonstrates the two-pointer pattern with the smallest possible state.

Algorithm

Canonical input [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] (odd length, middle element stays put) yields three swap frames and reverses to [7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1].

Basic Implementation

basic.rs

fn main() {
	let mut arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7];
	let mut left = 0usize;
	let mut right = arr.len() - 1;
	while left < right {
		let tmp = arr[left];
		arr[left] = arr[right];
		arr[right] = tmp;
		left = left + 1;
		right = right - 1;
	}
	println!("{:?}", arr);
}

Complexity

Time: O(n)
Space: O(1)

Implementation notes

Rust: explicit three-line let tmp = ...; arr[left] = arr[right]; arr[right] = tmp; swap keeps the move visible. The standard arr.swap(left, right) and Vec::reverse would hide the lesson.
let mut left = 0usize; and let mut right = arr.len() - 1; use plain usize indices; the left < right guard handles the meet-in-the-middle exit honestly for the odd-length canonical input.
The replay shows both left and right, the values about to be swapped, and the array contents after the swap. The loop-exit frame is the moment the pointers meet.

two pointers `left` starts at index `0`, `right` starts at `n - 1`. Each loop iteration swaps `arr[left]` and `arr[right]` and moves the pointers toward each other.