Why is a return statement required to allow this while statement to be evaluated properly? - scala

Question

Why is a return statement required to allow this while statement to be
evaluated properly? The following statement allows
import java.io.File
import java.io.FileInputStream
import java.io.InputStream
import java.io.BufferedReader
import java.io.InputStreamReader
trait Closeable {
def close ()
}
trait ManagedCloseable extends Closeable {
def use (code: () => Unit) {
try {
code()
}
finally {
this.close()
}
}
}
class CloseableInputStream (stream: InputStream)
extends InputStream with ManagedCloseable {
def read = stream.read
}
object autoclose extends App {
implicit def inputStreamToClosable (stream: InputStream):
CloseableInputStream = new CloseableInputStream(stream)
override
def main (args: Array[String]) {
val test = new FileInputStream(new File("test.txt"))
test use {
val reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(test))
var input: String = reader.readLine
while (input != null) {
println(input)
input = reader.readLine
}
}
}
}
This produces the following error from scalac:
autoclose.scala:40: error: type mismatch;
found : Unit
required: () => Unit
while (input != null) {
^
one error found
It appears that it's attempting to treat the block following the use as an
inline statement rather than a lambda, but I'm not exactly sure why. Adding
return after the while alleviates the error:
test use {
val reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(test))
var input: String = reader.readLine
while (input != null) {
println(input)
input = reader.readLine
}
return
}
And the application runs as expected. Can anyone describe to me what is going
on there exactly? This seems as though it should be a bug. It's been
persistent across many versions of Scala though (tested 2.8.0, 2.9.0, 2.9.1)

Answer 1

That's because it's use is declared as () => Unit, so the compiler expects the block you are giving use to return something that satisfies this signature.
It seems that what you want is to turn the entire block into a by-name parameter, to do so change def use (code : () => Unit) to def use (code : => Unit).

Answer 2

() => Unit is the type of a Function0 object, and you've required the use expression to be of that type, which it obviously isn't. => Unit is a by name parameter, which you should use instead.
You might find my answer to this question useful.

Answer 3

To go the heart of the matter, blocks are not lambdas. A block in Scala is a scope delimiter, nothing more.
If you had written
test use { () =>
val reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(test))
var input: String = reader.readLine
while (input != null) {
println(input)
input = reader.readLine
}
}
Then you'd have a function (indicated by () =>) which is delimited by the block.
If use had been declared as
def use (code: => Unit) {
Then the syntax you used would work, but not because of any lambda thingy. That syntax indicates the parameter is passed by name, which, roughly speaking, means you'd take the whole expression passed as parameter (ie, the whole block), and substitute it for code inside the body of use. The type of code would be Unit, not a function, but the parameter would not be passed by value.

Answer 4

return or return expr has the type Nothing. You can substitute this for any type, as it never yields a value to the surrounding expression, instead it returns control to the caller.
In your program, it masquerades as the required type () => Unit.
Here's an occasionally convenient use for that (although you might be tarnished as unidiomatic if you use it too often, don't tell anyone you heard this from me!)
def foo(a: Option[Int]): Int = {
val aa: Int = a.getOrElse(return 0)
aa * 2
}
For the record, you should probably write:
def foo(a: Option[Int]): Int =
a.map(_ * 2).getOrElse(0)
You can get an insight into the mind of the compiler by checking the output of scala -Xprint:typer -e <one-liner>. Add -Ytyper-debug if you like sifting through the reams of output!
scala210 -Ytyper-debug -Xprint:typer -e 'def foo: Any = {val x: () => Any = { return }}'
... elided ...
typed return (): Nothing
adapted return (): Nothing to () => Any,