How to do overload in Scala? - scala

I'm very new to Scala and H2O. I know there is extend class in Scala. But what I want to do is have two classes with same name but different parameter type.
I hope when I call test, if I put either a String or a Double parameter into it. The class will recognize the Data type I put into it and run the right function. Thanks for your help!

You can parametrize your class to make it 'generic':
class test[T](a: T, b: T) extends MRTask {}
so when you'll use this class in real life type T will be determined automatically based on your input.
For test("str", "str" ) , T will be String
If you want to limitat your type with String and Double you can not use both this bounds in same time. You have to find common parent class for those two. It's Any. It will not help you a lot.
For ex. you need to implement some method that depends on type should apply different behaviour. For this purpose I recommend you to use pattern matching.
case class test[T <: Any](a :T, b: T) {
def foo (): T = {
a match {
case d: Double => d
case s: String => s
}
}
}

Related

Scala traits with generic

I used to develop on java, but now I stucked with one thing.
I have some kind of flexible value system.
trait Value[T] {
def get:T
}
I have implementations of this, for example
class StringValue(value : String) extends Value[String] {
override def get : String = value
}
class NumberValue(value : Int) extends Value[Int] {
override def get: Int = value
}
Then, I'm passing Value to Map, but I don't need parameter, as I don't know which implementation should be used.
case class Foo(attributes: Map[Attribute, Value)
On this step I get an error, because Value should have parameter.
I understand that it's might be fundamental difference between Java and Scala, so what should I use in this case?
You can use existential types: Map[Attribute, Value[_]] to express this, but they aren't trivial to use.
I understand that it's might be fundamental difference between Java and Scala
It isn't: in Java you can write Map<Attribute, Value>, but you shouldn't. Instead, you want Map<Attribute, Value<?>> which is more limited than Scala, but expresses the same idea.
You can try something along the lines of
case class Foo[K, V](attributes: Map[K, V])
You need to have the class have generic typed parameters in order to be able to use generic parameters.

Context bounds for type members or how to defer implicit resolution until member instantiation

In the following example, is there a way to avoid that implicit resolution picks the defaultInstance and uses the intInstance instead? More background after the code:
// the following part is an external fixed API
trait TypeCls[A] {
def foo: String
}
object TypeCls {
def foo[A](implicit x: TypeCls[A]) = x.foo
implicit def defaultInstance[A]: TypeCls[A] = new TypeCls[A] {
def foo = "default"
}
implicit val intInstance: TypeCls[Int] = new TypeCls[Int] {
def foo = "integer"
}
}
trait FooM {
type A
def foo: String = implicitly[TypeCls[A]].foo
}
// end of external fixed API
class FooP[A:TypeCls] { // with type params, we can use context bound
def foo: String = implicitly[TypeCls[A]].foo
}
class MyFooP extends FooP[Int]
class MyFooM extends FooM { type A = Int }
object Main extends App {
println(s"With type parameter: ${(new MyFooP).foo}")
println(s"With type member: ${(new MyFooM).foo}")
}
Actual output:
With type parameter: integer
With type member: default
Desired output:
With type parameter: integer
With type member: integer
I am working with a third-party library that uses the above scheme to provide "default" instances for the type class TypeCls. I think the above code is a minimal example that demonstrates my problem.
Users are supposed to mix in the FooM trait and instantiate the abstract type member A. The problem is that due to the defaultInstance the call of (new MyFooM).foo does not resolve the specialized intInstance and instead commits to defaultInstance which is not what I want.
I added an alternative version using type parameters, called FooP (P = Parameter, M = Member) which avoids to resolve the defaultInstance by using a context bound on the type parameter.
Is there an equivalent way to do this with type members?
EDIT: I have an error in my simplification, actually the foo is not a def but a val, so it is not possible to add an implicit parameter. So no of the current answers are applicable.
trait FooM {
type A
val foo: String = implicitly[TypeCls[A]].foo
}
// end of external fixed API
class FooP[A:TypeCls] { // with type params, we can use context bound
val foo: String = implicitly[TypeCls[A]].foo
}
The simplest solution in this specific case is have foo itself require an implicit instance of TypeCls[A].
The only downside is that it will be passed on every call to foo as opposed to just when instantiating
FooM. So you'll have to make sure they are in scope on every call to foo. Though as long as the TypeCls instances are in the companion object, you won't have anything special to do.
trait FooM {
type A
def foo(implicit e: TypeCls[A]): String = e.foo
}
UPDATE: In my above answer I managed to miss the fact that FooM cannot be modified. In addition the latest edit to the question mentions that FooM.foo is actually a val and not a def.
Well the bad news is that the API you're using is simply broken. There is no way FooM.foo wille ever return anything useful (it will always resolve TypeCls[A] to TypeCls.defaultInstance regardless of the actual value of A). The only way out is to override foo in a derived class where the actual value of A is known, in order to be able to use the proper instance of TypeCls. Fortunately, this idea can be combined with your original workaround of using a class with a context bound (FooP in your case):
class FooMEx[T:TypeCls] extends FooM {
type A = T
override val foo: String = implicitly[TypeCls[A]].foo
}
Now instead of having your classes extend FooM directly, have them extend FooMEx:
class MyFoo extends FooMEx[Int]
The only difference between FooMEx and your original FooP class is that FooMEx does extend FooM, so MyFoo is a proper instance of FooM and can thus be used with the fixed API.
Can you copy the code from the third party library. Overriding the method does the trick.
class MyFooM extends FooM { type A = Int
override def foo: String = implicitly[TypeCls[A]].foo}
It is a hack, but I doubt there is anything better.
I do not know why this works the way it does. It must be some order in which the type alias are substituted in the implicitly expression.
Only an expert in the language specification can tell you the exact reason.

Implementing '.clone' in Scala

I'm trying to figure out how to .clone my own objects, in Scala.
This is for a simulation so mutable state is a must, and from that arises the whole need for cloning. I'll clone a whole state structure before moving the simulation time ahead.
This is my current try:
abstract trait Cloneable[A] {
// Seems we cannot declare the prototype of a copy constructor
//protected def this(o: A) // to be defined by the class itself
def myClone= new A(this)
}
class S(var x: String) extends Cloneable[S] {
def this(o:S)= this(o.x) // for 'Cloneable'
def toString= x
}
object TestX {
val s1= new S("say, aaa")
println( s1.myClone )
}
a. Why does the above not compile. Gives:
error: class type required but A found
def myClone= new A(this)
^
b. Is there a way to declare the copy constructor (def this(o:A)) in the trait, so that classes using the trait would be shown to need to provide one.
c. Is there any benefit from saying abstract trait?
Finally, is there a way better, standard solution for all this?
I've looked into Java cloning. Does not seem to be for this. Also Scala copy is not - it's only for case classes and they shouldn't have mutable state.
Thanks for help and any opinions.
Traits can't define constructors (and I don't think abstract has any effect on a trait).
Is there any reason it needs to use a copy constructor rather than just implementing a clone method? It might be possible to get out of having to declare the [A] type on the class, but I've at least declared a self type so the compiler will make sure that the type matches the class.
trait DeepCloneable[A] { self: A =>
def deepClone: A
}
class Egg(size: Int) extends DeepCloneable[Egg] {
def deepClone = new Egg(size)
}
object Main extends App {
val e = new Egg(3)
println(e)
println(e.deepClone)
}
http://ideone.com/CS9HTW
It would suggest a typeclass based approach. With this it is possible to also let existing classes be cloneable:
class Foo(var x: Int)
trait Copyable[A] {
def copy(a: A): A
}
implicit object FooCloneable extends Copyable[Foo] {
def copy(foo: Foo) = new Foo(foo.x)
}
implicit def any2Copyable[A: Copyable](a: A) = new {
def copy = implicitly[Copyable[A]].copy(a)
}
scala> val x = new Foo(2)
x: Foo = Foo#8d86328
scala> val y = x.copy
y: Foo = Foo#245e7588
scala> x eq y
res2: Boolean = false
a. When you define a type parameter like the A it gets erased after the compilation phase.
This means that the compiler uses type parameters to check that you use the correct types, but the resulting bytecode retains no information of A.
This also implies that you cannot use A as a real class in code but only as a "type reference", because at runtime this information is lost.
b & c. traits cannot define constructor parameters or auxiliary constructors by definition, they're also abstract by definition.
What you can do is define a trait body that gets called upon instantiation of the concrete implementation
One alternative solution is to define a Cloneable typeclass. For more on this you can find lots of blogs on the subject, but I have no suggestion for a specific one.
scalaz has a huge part built using this pattern, maybe you can find inspiration there: you can look at Order, Equal or Show to get the gist of it.

case class copy 'method' with superclass

I want to do something like this:
sealed abstract class Base(val myparam:String)
case class Foo(override val myparam:String) extends Base(myparam)
case class Bar(override val myparam:String) extends Base(myparam)
def getIt( a:Base ) = a.copy(myparam="changed")
I can't, because in the context of getIt, I haven't told the compiler that every Base has a 'copy' method, but copy isn't really a method either so I don't think there's a trait or abstract method I can put in Base to make this work properly. Or, is there?
If I try to define Base as abstract class Base{ def copy(myparam:String):Base }, then case class Foo(myparam:String) extends Base results in class Foo needs to be abstract, since method copy in class Base of type (myparam: String)Base is not defined
Is there some other way to tell the compiler that all Base classes will be case classes in their implementation? Some trait that means "has the properties of a case class"?
I could make Base be a case class, but then I get compiler warnings saying that inheritance from case classes is deprecated?
I know I can also:
def getIt(f:Base)={
(f.getClass.getConstructors.head).newInstance("yeah").asInstanceOf[Base]
}
but... that seems very ugly.
Thoughts? Is my whole approach just "wrong" ?
UPDATE I changed the base class to contain the attribute, and made the case classes use the "override" keyword. This better reflects the actual problem and makes the problem more realistic in consideration of Edmondo1984's response.
This is old answer, before the question was changed.
Strongly typed programming languages prevent what you are trying to do. Let's see why.
The idea of a method with the following signature:
def getIt( a:Base ) : Unit
Is that the body of the method will be able to access a properties visible through Base class or interface, i.e. the properties and methods defined only on the Base class/interface or its parents. During code execution, each specific instance passed to the getIt method might have a different subclass but the compile type of a will always be Base
One can reason in this way:
Ok I have a class Base, I inherit it in two case classes and I add a
property with the same name, and then I try to access the property on
the instance of Base.
A simple example shows why this is unsafe:
sealed abstract class Base
case class Foo(myparam:String) extends Base
case class Bar(myparam:String) extends Base
case class Evil(myEvilParam:String) extends Base
def getIt( a:Base ) = a.copy(myparam="changed")
In the following case, if the compiler didn't throw an error at compile time, it means the code would try to access a property that does not exist at runtime. This is not possible in strictly typed programming languages: you have traded restrictions on the code you can write for a much stronger verification of your code by the compiler, knowing that this reduces dramatically the number of bugs your code can contain
This is the new answer. It is a little long because few points are needed before getting to the conclusion
Unluckily, you can't rely on the mechanism of case classes copy to implement what you propose. The way the copy method works is simply a copy constructor which you can implement yourself in a non-case class. Let's create a case class and disassemble it in the REPL:
scala> case class MyClass(name:String, surname:String, myJob:String)
defined class MyClass
scala> :javap MyClass
Compiled from "<console>"
public class MyClass extends java.lang.Object implements scala.ScalaObject,scala.Product,scala.Serializable{
public scala.collection.Iterator productIterator();
public scala.collection.Iterator productElements();
public java.lang.String name();
public java.lang.String surname();
public java.lang.String myJob();
public MyClass copy(java.lang.String, java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
public java.lang.String copy$default$3();
public java.lang.String copy$default$2();
public java.lang.String copy$default$1();
public int hashCode();
public java.lang.String toString();
public boolean equals(java.lang.Object);
public java.lang.String productPrefix();
public int productArity();
public java.lang.Object productElement(int);
public boolean canEqual(java.lang.Object);
public MyClass(java.lang.String, java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
}
In Scala, the copy method takes three parameter and can eventually use the one from the current instance for the one you haven't specified ( the Scala language provides among its features default values for parameters in method calls)
Let's go down in our analysis and take again the code as updated:
sealed abstract class Base(val myparam:String)
case class Foo(override val myparam:String) extends Base(myparam)
case class Bar(override val myparam:String) extends Base(myparam)
def getIt( a:Base ) = a.copy(myparam="changed")
Now in order to make this compile, we would need to use in the signature of getIt(a:MyType) a MyType that respect the following contract:
Anything that has a parameter myparam and maybe other parameters which
have default value
All these methods would be suitable:
def copy(myParam:String) = null
def copy(myParam:String, myParam2:String="hello") = null
def copy(myParam:String,myParam2:Option[Option[Option[Double]]]=None) = null
There is no way to express this contract in Scala, however there are advanced techniques that can be helpful.
The first observation that we can do is that there is a strict relation between case classes and tuples in Scala. In fact case classes are somehow tuples with additional behaviour and named properties.
The second observation is that, since the number of properties of your classes hierarchy is not guaranteed to be the same, the copy method signature is not guaranteed to be the same.
In practice, supposing AnyTuple[Int] describes any Tuple of any size where the first value is of type Int, we are looking to do something like that:
def copyTupleChangingFirstElement(myParam:AnyTuple[Int], newValue:Int) = myParam.copy(_1=newValue)
This would not be to difficult if all the elements were Int. A tuple with all element of the same type is a List, and we know how to replace the first element of a List. We would need to convert any TupleX to List, replace the first element, and convert the List back to TupleX. Yes we will need to write all the converters for all the values that X might assume. Annoying but not difficult.
In our case though, not all the elements are Int. We want to treat Tuple where the elements are of different type as if they were all the same if the first element is an Int. This is called
"Abstracting over arity"
i.e. treating tuples of different size in a generic way, independently of their size. To do it, we need to convert them into a special list which supports heterogenous types, named HList
Conclusion
Case classes inheritance is deprecated for very good reason, as you can find out from multiple posts in the mailing list: http://www.scala-lang.org/node/3289
You have two strategies to deal with your problem:
If you have a limited number of fields you require to change, use an approach such as the one suggested by #Ron, which is having a copy method. If you want to do it without losing type information, I would go for generifying the base class
sealed abstract class Base[T](val param:String){
def copy(param:String):T
}
class Foo(param:String) extends Base[Foo](param){
def copy(param: String) = new Foo(param)
}
def getIt[T](a:Base[T]) : T = a.copy("hello")
scala> new Foo("Pippo")
res0: Foo = Foo#4ab8fba5
scala> getIt(res0)
res1: Foo = Foo#5b927504
scala> res1.param
res2: String = hello
If you really want to abstract over arity, a solution is to use a library developed by Miles Sabin called Shapeless. There is a question here which has been asked after a discussion : Are HLists nothing more than a convoluted way of writing tuples? but I tell you this is going to give you some headache
If the two case classes would diverge over time so that they have different fields, then the shared copy approach would cease to work.
It is better to define an abstract def withMyParam(newParam: X): Base. Even better, you can introduce an abstract type to retain the case class type upon return:
scala> trait T {
| type Sub <: T
| def myParam: String
| def withMyParam(newParam: String): Sub
| }
defined trait T
scala> case class Foo(myParam: String) extends T {
| type Sub = Foo
| override def withMyParam(newParam: String) = this.copy(myParam = newParam)
| }
defined class Foo
scala>
scala> case class Bar(myParam: String) extends T {
| type Sub = Bar
| override def withMyParam(newParam: String) = this.copy(myParam = newParam)
| }
defined class Bar
scala> Bar("hello").withMyParam("dolly")
res0: Bar = Bar(dolly)
TL;DR: I managed to declare the copy method on Base while still letting the compiler auto generate its implementations in the derived case classes. This involves a little trick (and actually I'd myself just redesign the type hierarchy) but at least it goes to show that you can indeed make it work without writing boiler plate code in any of the derived case classes.
First, and as already mentioned by ron and Edmondo1984, you'll get into troubles if your case classes have different fields.
I'll strictly stick to your example though, and assume that all your case classes have the same fields (looking at your github link, this seems to be the case of your actual code too).
Given that all your case classes have the same fields, the auto-generated copy methods will have the same signature which is a good start. It seems reasonable then to just add the common definition in Base, as you did:
abstract class Base{ def copy(myparam: String):Base }
The problem is now that scala won't generate the copy methods, because there is already one in the base class.
It turns out that there is another way to statically ensure that Base has the right copy method, and it is through structural typing and self-type annotation:
type Copyable = { def copy(myParam: String): Base }
sealed abstract class Base(val myParam: String) { this : Copyable => }
And unlike in our earlier attempt, this will not prevent scala to auto-generate the copy methods.
There is one last problem: the self-type annotation makes sure that sub-classes of Base have a copy method, but it does not make it publicly availabe on Base:
val foo: Base = Foo("hello")
foo.copy()
scala> error: value copy is not a member of Base
To work around this we can add an implicit conversion from Base to Copyable. A simple cast will do, as a Base is guaranteed to be a Copyable:
implicit def toCopyable( base: Base ): Base with Copyable = base.asInstanceOf[Base with Copyable]
Wrapping up, this gives us:
object Base {
type Copyable = { def copy(myParam: String): Base }
implicit def toCopyable( base: Base ): Base with Copyable = base.asInstanceOf[Base with Copyable]
}
sealed abstract class Base(val myParam: String) { this : Base. Copyable => }
case class Foo(override val myParam: String) extends Base( myParam )
case class Bar(override val myParam: String) extends Base( myParam )
def getIt( a:Base ) = a.copy(myParam="changed")
Bonus effect: if we try to define a case class with a different signature, we get a compile error:
case class Baz(override val myParam: String, truc: Int) extends Base( myParam )
scala> error: illegal inheritance; self-type Baz does not conform to Base's selftype Base with Base.Copyable
To finish, one warning: you should probably just revise your design to avoid having to resort to the above trick.
In your case, ron's suggestion to use a single case class with an additional etype field seems more than reasonable.
I think this is what extension methods are for. Take your pick of implementation strategies for the copy method itself.
I like here that the problem is solved in one place.
It's interesting to ask why there is no trait for caseness: it wouldn't say much about how to invoke copy, except that it can always be invoked without args, copy().
sealed trait Base { def p1: String }
case class Foo(val p1: String) extends Base
case class Bar(val p1: String, p2: String) extends Base
case class Rab(val p2: String, p1: String) extends Base
case class Baz(val p1: String)(val p3: String = p1.reverse) extends Base
object CopyCase extends App {
implicit class Copy(val b: Base) extends AnyVal {
def copy(p1: String): Base = b match {
case foo: Foo => foo.copy(p1 = p1)
case bar: Bar => bar.copy(p1 = p1)
case rab: Rab => rab.copy(p1 = p1)
case baz: Baz => baz.copy(p1 = p1)(p1.reverse)
}
//def copy(p1: String): Base = reflect invoke
//def copy(p1: String): Base = macro xcopy
}
val f = Foo("param1")
val g = f.copy(p1="param2") // normal
val h: Base = Bar("A", "B")
val j = h.copy("basic") // enhanced
println(List(f,g,h,j) mkString ", ")
val bs = List(Foo("param1"), Bar("A","B"), Rab("A","B"), Baz("param3")())
val vs = bs map (b => b copy (p1 = b.p1 * 2))
println(vs)
}
Just for fun, reflective copy:
// finger exercise in the api
def copy(p1: String): Base = {
import scala.reflect.runtime.{ currentMirror => cm }
import scala.reflect.runtime.universe._
val im = cm.reflect(b)
val ts = im.symbol.typeSignature
val copySym = ts.member(newTermName("copy")).asMethod
def element(p: Symbol): Any = (im reflectMethod ts.member(p.name).asMethod)()
val args = for (ps <- copySym.params; p <- ps) yield {
if (p.name.toString == "p1") p1 else element(p)
}
(im reflectMethod copySym)(args: _*).asInstanceOf[Base]
}
This works fine for me:
sealed abstract class Base { def copy(myparam: String): Base }
case class Foo(myparam:String) extends Base {
override def copy(x: String = myparam) = Foo(x)
}
def copyBase(x: Base) = x.copy("changed")
copyBase(Foo("abc")) //Foo(changed)
There is a very comprehensive explanation of how to do this using shapeless at http://www.cakesolutions.net/teamblogs/copying-sealed-trait-instances-a-journey-through-generic-programming-and-shapeless ; in case the link breaks, the approach uses the copySyntax utilities from shapeless, which should be sufficient to find more details.
Its an old problem, with an old solution,
https://code.google.com/p/scala-scales/wiki/VirtualConstructorPreSIP
made before the case class copy method existed.
So in reference to this problem each case class MUST be a leaf node anyway, so define the copy and a MyType / thisType plus the newThis function and you are set, each case class fixes the type. If you want to widen the tree/newThis function and use default parameters you'll have to change the name.
as an aside - I've been waiting for compiler plugin magic to improve before implementing this but type macros may be the magic juice. Search in the lists for Kevin's AutoProxy for a more detailed explanation of why my code never went anywhere

Scala inherit parameterized constructor

I have an abstract base class with several optional parameters:
abstract case class Hypothesis(
requirement: Boolean = false,
onlyDays: Seq[Int] = Nil,
…
) extends Something {…}
Do i really need to explicitly repeat all parameters with the additional keywords override val on top‽
case class SomeHypothesis(
anotherArg: SomeType,
override val requirement: Boolean = false,
override val onlyDays: Seq[Int] = Nil,
…
) extends Hypothesis(
requirement,
onlyDays,
…
) {…}
Or is there a syntax like
case class SomeHypothesis(anotherArg: SomeType, **) extends Hypothesis(**) {…}
I don’t even need anotherArg, just a way to pass all keyword args to the super constructor.
I really like Scala’s idea about constructors, but if there isn’t a syntax for that one, I’ll be disappoint :(
You can just use a dummy name in the inherited class:
case class SomeHypothesis(anotherArg: SomeType, rq: Boolean = false, odays: Seq[Int] = Nil)
extends Hypothesis(rq, odays)
but you do have to repeat the default values. There is no need to override a val.
EDIT:
Note that your abstract class should not be a case class. Extending case classes is now deprecated. You should use an extractor for you abstract class instead:
abstract class SomeHypothesis(val request: Boolean)
object SomeHypothesis {
def unapply(o: Any): Option[Boolean] = o match {
case sh: SomeHypothesis => Some(sh.request)
case _ => None
}
}
In my mind the policy of default values doesn't belong in the base class but should go on the concrete classes. I'd instead do the following:
trait Hypothesis {
def requirement: Boolean
def onlyDays: Seq[Int]
/* other common attributes as necessary */
}
case class SomeHypothesis(anotherArg: SomeType,
requirement: Boolean = false,
onlyDays: Seq[Int] = Nil)
extends Hypothesis
The case class fields of SomeHypothesis will fulfill the requirements of the Hypothesis trait.
As others have said, you can still use an extractor for pattern matching on the common parts:
object Hypothesis {
def unapply(h: Hypothesis): (Boolean, Seq[Int]) = (h.requirement, h.onlyDays)
}
I've spend DAYS bashing my head on the desk trying to understand why named params were not going into an extended class.
I tried traits, copy() you name it - me and the compiler were always at odds and when things did compile the values never got passed.
So to be clear if you have class
class A(someInt:Int = 0, someString: String ="xyz", someOtherString: String = "zyx")
And you want to extend it:
class B extends A // does NOT compile
class B(someInt: Int, someString: String, someOtherString: String) extends A // compiles but does not work as expected
You would think that a call to B like so:
case object X = B(someInt=4, someString="Boo", someOtherString="Who")
Would in fact either NOT compile (sadly it does) or actually work (it does NOT)
Instead you need to create B as follows (yes this is a repeat of an above answer but it wasn't obvious at first when google led me here...)
class B(someInt: Int, someString: String, someOtherString: String) extends A(someInt, someString, someOtherString)
and now
case object X = B(someInt=4, someString="Boo", someOtherString="Who")
Both COMPILES and WORKS
I have not yet worked out all the combinations and permutations of what/when and where you can put default values in the class B constructor but I'm pretty sure that defaults can be specified in the definition of class B with "expected" results.
If Hypothesis is an abstract class, then I'd not have a constructor for it. I'd
set those parameters as abstract attributes of the abstract class.
But then, in this case you do need the override modifier.