Overriding curried functions in Scala - scala

I was under the impression that this
// short syntax
def foo(bar: Bar)(baz: Baz): Quux
was syntax sugar for this
// long syntax
def foo(bar: Bar): (Baz) => Quux
But I cannot seem to mix the two when it comes to inheritance. The whole tree has to be defined in either the short syntax or the long syntax; never both.
For example:
case class Context
case class Work
trait ContextualWorker {
def workWithContext(ctxt: Context)(work: Work): Traversable[Work]
}
class ShortConcreteWorker extends ContextualWorker {
override def workWithContext(ctxt: Context)(work: Work) = Nil
}
class LongConcreteWorker extends ContextualWorker {
// error on next line: method workWithContext overrides nothing <-------------
override def workWithContext(ctxt: Context): (Work) => Traversable[Work] = {
val setupCode = 1
{ work => Nil }
}
}
If I change the trait to use the long syntax, then ShortConcreteWorker doesn't compile.
Is there a reason why these aren't interchangeable/inheritable? How have you gotten around it?
Right now the most flexible approach appears to be to define the tree in the long syntax, perhaps delegating to an implementation class in ShortConcreteWorker like so:
case class Context
case class Work
trait ContextualWorker {
def workWithContext(ctxt: Context): (Work) => Traversable[Work]
}
class ShortConcreteWorker extends ContextualWorker {
override def workWithContext(ctxt: Context) = workWithContextImpl(ctxt)_
private def workWithContextImpl(ctxt: Context)(work: Work) = Nil
}
class LongConcreteWorker extends ContextualWorker {
override def workWithContext(ctxt: Context): (Work) => Traversable[Work] = {
val setupCode = 1
{ work => Nil }
}
}

The two methods described quite simply have different signatures. The REPL confirms this:
scala> def foo1(a: Int)(b: Int): Int = a + b
foo1: (a: Int)(b: Int)Int
scala> def foo2(a: Int): (Int => Int) = (b: Int) => a + b
foo2: (a: Int)Int => Int
The first is a function that requires two arguments, given in separate argument lists, and returns an Int. The second is a function that takes one argument and returns a function from Int to Int. While these two things are conceptually similar, they are, in fact, different constructs, and Scala treats them as such.
This is not limited to functions with multiple argument lists. It works the same way here:
scala> def foo3(a: Int): Int = a + 1
foo3: (a: Int)Int
scala> def foo4: (Int => Int) = (a: Int) => a + 1
foo4: Int => Int
Note that there are different ramifications for usage as well. With foo2, because it only accepts one argument, we can call it with just one argument. However, foo1 requires two arguments, an so we cannot simply call it with one. You can however use the _ syntax to convert it into a callable function.
foo2(2) // Int => Int = <function1>
foo1(2) // error: missing arguments for method foo1
foo1(2) _ // Int => Int = <function1>
So to answer your question directly: The reason they are not interchangeable is because they are not the same. If they were the same, we would be able to call them the same way. If you could change the signature upon extension, how would Scala know which calling syntax to allow? The way to "get around" this is to simply make the signatures consistent.

Related

Overriding a trait method with a function value

Say I have a trait like this
trait X {
def foo(param: String): Int
}
and I want to override it with a function value, I have to do this:
class XImpl extends X {
private val fooF: String => Int = ???
override def foo(param: String): Int = fooF(param)
}
because the following does not work
class XImpl extends X {
override val foo: String => Int = ???
}
/*
error: class XImpl needs to be abstract. Missing implementation for:
def foo(param: String): Int // inherited from trait X
^
error: value foo overrides nothing.
Note: the super classes of class XImpl contain the following, non final members named foo:
def foo(param: String): Int
*/
Is it possible to directly implement/override the trait method with the function value in some way and avoid the forwarder?
The simple answer is that you cannot override a method with a function value because they are not the same type.
A method must be called on a particular instance of a class (even if the method itself does not use any fields in that class).
A function value stands alone and can be called without any additional information.
A method can be converted a function value using eta expansion x.foo _. This creates a function value which has the class value embedded within it.
val x: X = ???
val etaFoo: String => Int = x.foo _
In this case Scala will actually do the eta expansion for you so the _ is optional, but it is required in more complex uses and is good practice to keep it there so show that eta expansion is happening.
To convert a function value to a method you need to define a method as shown in the question.
Eta expansion works with methods with multiple parameters:
trait X2 {
def foo2(p1: String, p2: Int): String
}
val x2: X2 = ???
val etaFoo2: (String, Int) => String = x2.foo2 _

Type definition and overriding

I'm quite new to Scala and a part of my project ended up with the following design.
trait StringService {
def length(s: String): Int
def vowels(s: String): Int
}
Those methods are used as parameters to
def processStrings(operation: String => Int) = {...}
Calls like processStrings(ss.length) work fine. Now I would like to abstract
the type of these methods
type StringFuction = String => Int
The problem is that an implementation like
override def length(s: String): Int = { ... }
is no longer valid. Of course, I can go with
override def length: StringFunction = { (s: String) => ... }
but this seems a little off.
What's the proper way? Please feel free to suggest a different design if this isn't a true Scala approach.
Well, there are different ways to do this, depending on the purpose you want to use your type alias for. This works for example:
type StringFunction = String => Int
trait Foo { def foo(s: String) = ??? }
class Bar extends Foo {
def foo(s: String) = s.length
}
def foobar(f: StringFunction)(s) = f(s)
foobar(new Bar().foo)("bar")
This works too:
type StringFunction = String => Int
trait Foo { def foo: StringFunction = ??? }
class Bar extends Foo {
override def foo = _.length
}
def foobar(f: StringFunction)(s) = f(s)
foobar(new Bar().foo)("bar")
Strictly speaking, these are not the same constructs: in the first case Foo.foo is a method, that takes an String argument and returns an Int.
In the second case, it is a method, that takes no arguments, and returns a lambda function, that take a String argument, and returns an Int.
This difference is fairly subtle though. It does matter for some specific cases, but often can be ignored.

In scala, parameterized return type for class member that is an anonymous function

What I want is something like the following:
class Foo(val f: (Bar => A) => A) {
def consume(x: Int): Unit = {
val myStr: String = f(bar => bar.getStr)
val myInt: Int = f(bar => bar.getInt)
writeToLog(s"$myStr: ${myInt + x}")
}
}
I know I could do this by defining a type for f with an apply method that takes type parameters. My question is can I achieve this without defining such a type? BTW, I don't use a Bar directly because each Bar is an rpc object (e.g. thrift) and I have set up and tear down boilerplate code that I'm avoiding with this pattern.
I'm not sure that it's exactly what you need, but I can suggest Polymorphic functions with Shapeless:
import shapeless._
import poly._
class Bar {
def getStr = "str"
def getInt = 1
}
type Extractor[T] = Bar => T
object extract extends Poly1 {
implicit def caseStr = at[Extractor[String]](f => f.andThen(identity))
implicit def caseInt = at[Extractor[Int]](f => f.andThen(identity))
}
class Foo(bar: Bar) {
def e[T](f: Bar => T): Extractor[T] = f
def consume(x: Int): Unit = {
val myStr: String = extract(e(_.getStr)) apply bar
val myInt: Int = extract(e(_.getInt)) apply bar
println(s"$myStr: ${myInt + x}")
}
}
new Foo(new Bar).consume(1)
So you need to define function for each case (String, Int, etc). And I used just identity. In you example you never pass Bar, but you definitely need it at some point to calculate String and Int

Case class and Linearization of traits

Suppose that I want to write a case class Stepper as follows:
case class Stepper(step: Int) {def apply(x: Int) = x + step}
It comes with a nice toStringimplementation:
scala> Stepper(42).toString
res0: String = Stepper(42)
but it's not really a function:
scala> Some(2) map Stepper(2)
<console>:10: error: type mismatch;
found : Stepper
required: Int => ?
Some(2) map Stepper(2)
A workaround is to implement the Function trait...
case class Stepper(step: Int) extends (Int => Int) {def apply(x: Int) = x + step}
But then, I can't have for free a nice toString implementation anymore:
scala> Stepper(42).toString
res2: java.lang.String = <function1>
Then, the question is: can I have the best of these two worlds? Is there a solution where I have the nice toString implementation for free AND an implementation of trait Function. In other words, is there a way to apply the linearization in such a way that case class syntaxic sugar is applied at last?
The question is not really to do with linearisation. In case-classes toString is a method automatically generated by the compiler if and only if Any.toString is not overridden in the end-type.
However, the answer is partly to do with linearisation - we need to override Function1.toString with the method that would have been generated by compiler if not for the version introduced by Function1 :
trait ProperName extends Product {
override lazy val toString = scala.runtime.ScalaRunTime._toString(this)
}
// now just mix in ProperName and... magic!
case class Stepper(step: Int) extends (Int => Int) with ProperName {
def apply(x:Int) = x+step
}
Then
println(Some(2) map Stepper(2))
println(Stepper(2))
Will produce
Some(4)
Stepper(2)
Update
Here is a version of ProperName trait that doesn't rely on the undocumented API method:
trait ProperName extends Product {
override lazy val toString = {
val caseFields = {
val arity = productArity
def fields(from: Int): List[Any] =
if (from == arity) List()
else productElement(from) :: fields(from + 1)
fields(0)
}
caseFields.mkString(productPrefix + "(", ",", ")")
}
}
Alternative toString implementation is derived from the source code for the original _toString method scala.runtime.ScalaRunTime._toString.
Please note that this alternative implementation is still based on the assumption that a case class always extends Product trait. Although the latter holds true as of Scala 2.9.0 and is a fact that is known to and relied upon by some members of Scala community it's not formally documented as part of Scala Language Spec.
EDIT: What about overriding toString?
case class Stepper(step: Int) extends (Int => Int) {
def apply(x: Int) = x + step
override def toString = "Stepper(" + step + ")"
}
You can use an implicit conversion to have Stepper treated like a function only when necessary:
case class Stepper(step: Int) { def apply(x: Int) = x + step }
implicit def s2f(s: Stepper) = new Function[Int, Int] {
def apply(x: Int) = s.apply(x)
}
Now you get the case class's toString when you call Stepper(42).toString, but Some(2) map Stepper(2) also works as desired.
(Note that I've been more verbose than necessary above to keep the mechanics clear. You can also write implicit def s2f(s: Stepper) = s.apply _ or any number of other more concise formulations).

How do I use "implicit" as apply() parameter?

I want to do this:
abstract class Context {
def getInt(id: Int): Int
}
abstract class Dependency[+T]
(val name: String, val id: Int)
extends Function1[Context,T]
class IntDependency(name: String, id: Int)
extends Dependency[Int](name, id) {
def apply(implicit context: Context): Int =
context.getInt(id)
}
But then I get an error message like this:
class IntDependency needs to be abstract, since method apply in trait
Function1 of type (v1: Context)Long is not defined (Note that T1 does
not match Context)
I understand that implicits should normally be part of the second parameter list, but I can't work out how to code it so it compiles, and gives the result I want.
Explanation: I'm trying to create a framework where one can define "Function" object, which can depend on other functions to compute their value. All functions should only take a single Context parameter. The context know the "result" of the other functions. The function instances should be immutable, with the state residing in the context. I want the functions to create "dependency" fields at creation time, which take the context implicitly, and return the value of the dependency within that context, so that accessing the dependency inside of the apply method "feels like" accessing a parameter or field, that is without explicitly giving the context as parameter to the dependency.
Are you sure you need your Dependency to extend a Function? Because if you don't, just leave the extends Function1[Context,T] part out and your code will work.
If you really need to extend a Function than I don't know of a solution in your case. But there are cases where you could try to overload the apply method. Like here:
scala> val sum = new Function1[Int, Function1[Int, Int]] {
| def apply(a: Int) = (b: Int) => a + b
| def apply(a: Int)(implicit b: Int) = a + b
|}
sum: java.lang.Object with (Int) => (Int) => Int{def apply(a:Int)(implicit b: Int): Int} = <function1>
scala> sum(2)(3)
res0: Int = 5
scala> implicit val b = 10
b: Int = 10
scala> sum(2)
res1: Int = 12
A method may have its final parameter section marked implicit; it need not be the second section, although that is most commonly seen.
But it seems that when a subclass marks a parameter section implicit, it is no longer considered to override the method in the superclass.
scala> new (Int => Int) { def apply(implicit i: Int) = i }
<console>:8: error: object creation impossible, since method apply in trait Function1 of type (v1: Int)Int is not defined
(Note that T1 does not match Int)
new (Int => Int) { def apply(implicit i: Int) = i }
^
scala> trait F1 { def f(a: Any) }; new F1 { def f(implicit a: Any) = () }
<console>:8: error: object creation impossible, since method f in trait F1 of type (a: Any)Unit is not defined
trait F1 { def f(a: Any) }; new F1 { def f(implicit a: Any) = () }
^
The spec does not specifically mention this (§5.1.4 Overriding), so it may be an implementation restriction, or an bug.
Its sure, that your apply method signature with implicit doesn´t conform with the signature of Function1.apply.
Hopefully I get your problem right, so what about (assuming that your context is mutable and perhaps singleton) having the implicit context injected at creation time? Is that possible in your case?
class IntDependency(id: Int)(implicit context: Context) extends Dependency[Int](id)
But then I wonder (and still was wondering before) what to do with the context argument at the apply method.
Here is the working solution:
abstract class Context {
def getInt(id: Int): Int
}
abstract class Dependency[+T]
(val name: String, val id: Int) {
def get(context: Context): T
}
class IntDependency(name: String, id: Int)
extends Dependency[Int](name, id) {
def get(context: Context): Int =
context.getInt(id)
}
implicit def intDep2Int(dep: IntDependency)
(implicit context: Context): Int =
dep.get(context)