Challenge: Rust Advanced Concepts

Challenge

You've been assigned the task of implementing a simple counter system using smart pointers in Rust. Your objective is to create a Counter struct that utilizes a smart pointer (either Rc or Arc) to keep track of the number of times an instance has been cloned. Furthermore, you are required to implement a method that allows users to retrieve the current count.

Task

Create a simple counter using smart pointers in Rust. Implement a Counter struct that internally uses a smart pointer (e.g., Rc or Arc) to keep track of the number of times an instance has been cloned. Additionally, implement a method to retrieve the current count. Make sure to follow the requirements given below:

• Define a struct called Counter with an internal smart pointer to keep track of the count.

• Implement a new method that initializes a new Counter with an initial count of zero.

• Implement a clone_and_increment method that clones Counter and increments the count.

• Implement a get_count method that returns the current count.

Try it yourself

The skeleton code to test out your implementations for the reference counter is given below.