> Rust’s variable bindings are immutable by default, but can become mutable, allowing them to be re-bound to something else

From someone reading about these details for the first time:

Calling them variable bindings confuses the matter. You say, just moments earlier, that variables are called by that name because they can change over time, they’re mutable. But this variable is immutable? But only sometimes? !

I know you mean that the mutability varies and that it makes sense in the context of the jargon of functional languages, but that's something that will make sense to language developers who have worked on Rust for years and maybe to the HN crowd, and not to new coders trying to grasp difficult, novel (to them) concepts.

How about "multimode bindings" or "multiphase bindings" (as in liquid/solid phase transitions) or dual-mode or something more entertaining like "double-agent bindings". Is it too late to change?

Maybe I'm missing something, but I suspect years from now people will be saying, 'so variable bindings are not always variable? huh?'