How can I architect the following inheritance problem in Scala? - scala

Suppose I have the following java classes. These cannot be modified
class RealtimeData {
protected void onEvent(Object obj) {
...
}
}
class HistoricalData {
protected void onEvent(Object obj) {
...
}
}
In Scala, I have a BusinessLogic class which does not require recompilation when switching from historical to live data. I have tried something like the following
trait Realtime extends RealtimeData {
override def onEvent(obj: Any) {
// my processing here
}
}
then
new BusinessLogic with Realtime
With the idea being that I could also do
new BusinessLogic with Historical
Unfortunately I run into an inheritance compilation problem. Are there alternative ways to achieve the overall goal of no recompilation of BusinessLogic?

Could not BusinessLogic simply get a Data at construction. If RealTimeData and HistoricalData have no common ancestor (is that your problem?), then it is probably best to define the service used by BusinessLogic as a trait and add implicit conversions.
trait Data { def onEvent(obj: Any) }
object Data {
implicit def fromRealTime(r: RealTimeData) = new Data{
def onEvent(obj: Any) = r.onEvent(obj)
// same for Historical
}
class BusinessLogic[D <% Data](data: D)
Alternatively, is what you want is to add behavior to your java data class, again implicit might be the way to go. Still with the trait data, the implicit conversions, and the parameter at constructor, you might add another implicit conversion
object BusinessLogic {
implicit def extendedWithBusinessLogic[D <% Data](data: D) = new BusinessLogic(data)
}
Finally, you may also consider structural types, the closest think to what you tried, but I'm not sure to understand what for :
type Data = {def onEvent(obj: Any)}
trait BusinessLogic{self: Data =>
def onSeveralEvents(objs: Any*) = for (obj <- objs) onEvent(obj)
}
val historicalWithBusiness = new HistoricalData with BusinessLogic

Related

what is the best practice of implementing a factory pattern/method in scala?

I wonder what is the best practice of implementing a factory pattern/method in scala?
say we have those kind of objects:
case class foo1(a:Int,b:String)
case class goo1(z:Double, w:String)
how to create them in generic way [by maybe using a trait etc...]?
thanks
If your goal is to write your own dependency injection module that provides instances on the fly, I'd strongly suggest that you lookup some of the existing tools. A simple google search for "Scala dependency injection frameworks" will yield many result such as MacWire, Guice,ReaderMonad,cake pattern and etc.
However my judgement aside from your motive and to simply answer the question here's one way you would do this in scala that also is type safe:
trait FactoryMethod[T] {
type Args
def defaultArgs: Args
def withArgs(args: Args): T
def default: T = withArgs(defaultArgs)
}
case class Foo(a:Int,b:String)
object Foo {
implicit object factory extends FactoryMethod[Foo] {
override type Args = (Int,String)
override def withArgs(args: Args): Foo = (Foo.apply _).tupled(args)
override def defaultArgs: Args = (1,"foo")
}
}
case class Goo(z:Double, w:String)
object Goo {
implicit object factory extends FactoryMethod[Goo] {
override type Args = (Double,String)
override def withArgs(args: Args): Goo = (Goo.apply _).tupled(args)
override def defaultArgs: Args = (2L,"goo")
}
}
object Factory {
def of[T](implicit factory: FactoryMethod[T]): factory.Args => T = factory.withArgs
def instanceOf[T](implicit factory: FactoryMethod[T]): T = factory.default
}
//obtain instance with default arguments
Factory.instanceOf[Goo]
//type safe way of obtaining instance with custom fed arguments
Factory.of[Foo].apply((-22,"baz"))
//By type safe I mean that the line below won't compile because the
//arguments fed for Foo are not compatible:
//Factory.of[Foo].apply(("bar","baz"))
//Note that if you abstract over the types Goo and Foo like this:
//def myMethod[T]: T = {
// Factory.instanceOf[T]
//}
//It won't compile unless you also ask for the needed implicit
//on the method signature
def myMethod[T: FactoryMethod]: T = {
Factory.instanceOf[T]
}

Compile time structural typing of close method

I've got the following helper method in my project:
def close(c: Closeable) {
Option(c).foreach(s => Try(s.close))
}
I've got some classes that have a close method but do not implement Closeable. If I change the helper method to use structural types I can still use it on these classes:
def close(c: {def close()}) {
Option(c).foreach(s => Try(s.close))
}
However this introduces use of reflection which is something that I'd like to avoid in runtime.
Is there a way to use something similar to structural typing without inducing runtime reflection?
I.e in the same way Shapeless allows generic access to fields, maybe implicit parameters + macros could be used to access methods in the same way?
Use traits to implement the typeclass pattern.
When I wrote my original solution it was a bit rough round the edges as I assumed a quick search for convert structural bounds to context bounds would pull up better explanations than I could write. That doesn't seem to be the case. Below is a compiling solution.
object Closeables {
trait MyCloseable[A] {
def myClose(a: A): Unit
}
object MyCloseable {
implicit object MyCanBeClosed extends MyCloseable[CanBeClosed] {
def myClose(c: CanBeClosed) = c.nonStandardClose()
}
}
}
class CanBeClosed {
def nonStandardClose(): Unit = println("Closing")
}
import Closeables._
object Test extends App {
def functionThatCloses[A: MyCloseable](a: A) {
implicitly[MyCloseable[A]].myClose(a)
}
def functionThatClosesExplicit[A](a: A)(implicit ev: MyCloseable[A]) {
ev.myClose(a)
}
val c = new CanBeClosed
functionThatCloses(c)
functionThatClosesExplicit(c)
functionThatCloses(c)(MyCloseable.MyCanBeClosed)
functionThatClosesExplicit(c)(MyCloseable.MyCanBeClosed)
}
For each type of class that can be accepted by functionThatCloses you must define and implicit object in MyCloseables.
The compiler looks at the context bound in functionThatCloses and converts it to a function with the definition of functionThatClosesExplicitly.
The compiler than 'finds' the implicit 'evidence' in the definition from the MyCloseables object and uses that.

Scala generic type with constraints

I am tinkling with Scala and would like to produce some generic code. I would like to have two classes, one "outer" class and one "inner" class. The outer class should be generic and accept any kind of inner class which follow a few constraints. Here is the kind of architecture I would want to have, in uncompilable code. Outer is a generic type, and Inner is an example of type that could be used in Outer, among others.
class Outer[InType](val in: InType) {
def update: Outer[InType] = new Outer[InType](in.update)
def export: String = in.export
}
object Outer {
def init[InType]: Outer[InType] = new Outer[InType](InType.empty)
}
class Inner(val n: Int) {
def update: Inner = new Inner(n + 1)
def export: String = n.toString
}
object Inner {
def empty: Inner = new Inner(0)
}
object Main {
def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
val outerIn: Outer[Inner] = Outer.empty[Inner]
println(outerIn.update.export) // expected to print 1
}
}
The important point is that, whatever InType is, in.update must return an "updated" InType object. I would also like the companion methods to be callable, like InType.empty. This way both Outer[InType] and InType are immutable types, and methods defined in companion objects are callable.
The previous code does not compile, as it is written like a C++ generic type (my background). What is the simplest way to correct this code according to the constraints I mentionned ? Am I completely wrong and should I use another approach ?
One approach I could think of would require us to use F-Bounded Polymorphism along with Type Classes.
First, we'd create a trait which requires an update method to be available:
trait AbstractInner[T <: AbstractInner[T]] {
def update: T
def export: String
}
Create a concrete implementation for Inner:
class Inner(val n: Int) extends AbstractInner[Inner] {
def update: Inner = new Inner(n + 1)
def export: String = n.toString
}
Require that Outer only take input types that extend AbstractInner[InType]:
class Outer[InType <: AbstractInner[InType]](val in: InType) {
def update: Outer[InType] = new Outer[InType](in.update)
}
We got the types working for creating an updated version of in and we need somehow to create a new instance with empty. The Typeclass Pattern is classic for that. We create a trait which builds an Inner type:
trait InnerBuilder[T <: AbstractInner[T]] {
def empty: T
}
We require Outer.empty to only take types which extend AbstractInner[InType] and have an implicit InnerBuilder[InType] in scope:
object Outer {
def empty[InType <: AbstractInner[InType] : InnerBuilder] =
new Outer(implicitly[InnerBuilder[InType]].empty)
}
And provide a concrete implementation for Inner:
object AbstractInnerImplicits {
implicit def innerBuilder: InnerBuilder[Inner] = new InnerBuilder[Inner] {
override def empty = new Inner(0)
}
}
Invoking inside main:
object Experiment {
import AbstractInnerImplicits._
def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
val outerIn: Outer[Inner] = Outer.empty[Inner]
println(outerIn.update.in.export)
}
}
Yields:
1
And there we have it. I know this may be a little overwhelming to grasp at first. Feel free to ask more questions as you read this.
I can think of 2 ways of doing it without referring to black magic:
with trait:
trait Updatable[T] { self: T =>
def update: T
}
class Outer[InType <: Updatable[InType]](val in: InType) {
def update = new Outer[InType](in.update)
}
class Inner(val n: Int) extends Updatable[Inner] {
def update = new Inner(n + 1)
}
first we use trait, to tell type system that update method is available, then we put restrains on the type to make sure that Updatable is used correctly (self: T => will make sure it is used as T extends Updatable[T] - as F-bounded type), then we also make sure that InType will implement it (InType <: Updatable[InType]).
with type class:
trait Updatable[F] {
def update(value: F): F
}
class Outer[InType](val in: InType)(implicit updatable: Updatable[InType]) {
def update: Outer[InType] = new Outer[InType](updatable.update(in))
}
class Inner(val n: Int) {
def update: Inner = new Inner(n + 1)
}
implicit val updatableInner = new Updatable[Inner] {
def update(value: Inner): Inner = value.update
}
First we define type class, then we are implicitly requiring its implementation for our type, and finally we are providing and using it. Putting whole theoretical stuff aside, the practical difference is that this interface is that you are not forcing InType to extend some Updatable[InType], but instead require presence of some Updatable[InType] implementation to be available in your scope - so you can provide the functionality not by modifying InType, but by providing some additional class which would fulfill your constrains or InType.
As such type classes are much more extensible, you just need to provide implicit for each supported type.
Among other methods available to you are e.g. reflection (however that might kind of break type safety and your abilities to refactor).

Abstract fields for dependency injection

In Scala, is there there anything wrong with using the below method of dependency injection.
// Define an interface
trait FileStorage {
def readFile(filename:String):OutputStream
}
// And an implementation
class S3FileStorage extends FileStorage {
def readFile(filename:String):OutputStream = ???
}
// Define our service as a trait with abstract fields that need to be
// injected in order to construct. All implementation details go here.
trait FileHTTPServer {
val fileStorage:FileStorage
def fetchFile( session:Session, filename:String ) = ???
}
Now we wire things up
// Wire up a concrete file service that we actually use in code
// No implementation details should go here, we're simply wiring up a FileHttpServerl
// An entire project could be wired up this way in a central location if desired.
object S3FileHttpServer extends FileHTTPServer {
val fileStorage = new S3FileStorage
}
// We could also do this anonymously
val myHttpServer = new FileHttpServer {
val fileStorage = new S3FileStorage
}
// Or create a mocked version for testing
val mockedHttpServer = new FileHttpServer {
val fileStorage = mock[FileStorage]
}
Obviously the Cake pattern provides more flexibility (particularly around self-types), however for simpler use cases this has much less boilerplate, while still providing compile time checking and a clean unambiguous interface.
Yes, this is absolutely fine approach. And yes, sometimes you can use constructor injection, nothing wrong with that too. But with constructor injection you have to propagate your dependencies manually, while with cake pattern your dependencies are propagated automatically via self-type annotations. So for big projects constructor injection actually lead to more boilerplate than cake pattern, especially at the construction site (where you create all your objects and set up dependencies between them).
However, what you have presented is not full-fledged cake pattern. In real cake pattern there is an additional layer around business logic classes, so-called components, and you do not wire up logic classes directly but components instead.
trait FileStorageComponent {
def fileStorage: FileStorage
trait FileStorage {
def readFile(filename: String): OutputStream
}
}
trait S3FileStorageComponent extends FileStorageComponent {
val fileStorage = new S3FileStorage
class S3FileStorage extends FileStorage {
def readFile(filename: String): OutputStream = ???
}
}
trait FileHttpServerComponent {
self: FileStorageComponent =>
val fileHttpServer = new FileHttpServer
class FileHttpServer {
def fetchFile(session: Session, filename: String) = ???
}
}
// Wiring
object S3FileHttpServer extends FileHttpServerComponent with S3FileStorageComponent
// Anonymous
val server = new FileHttpServerComponent with S3FileStorageComponent
// Mocking
object TestFileHttpServer extends FileHttpServerComponent with FileStorageComponent {
val fileStorage = mock[FileStorage]
}
In this approach there are more boilerplate in traits definitions, but in return you have greater flexibility and very clear dependency management on the use place. For example, here is how program entry point in one of my projects looks like:
object Main
extends MainUI
with DefaultActorsManagerComponent
with DefaultPreferencesAccessComponent
with DefaultModelComponent
with DefaultMainWindowViewComponent
with DefaultMainWindowControllerComponent
with MainWindowReporterComponent
with DefaultClientActorComponent
with DefaultResponseParserActorComponent
with DefaultArchiverActorComponent
with DefaultMainWindowAccessActorComponent
with DefaultUrlParserComponent
with DefaultListenerActorComponent
with DefaultXmlPrettifierComponent
All main program components are in one place. Pretty neat IMO.

How to implement intermediate types for implicit methods?

Assume I want to offer method foo on existing type A outside of my control. As far as I know, the canonical way to do this in Scala is implementing an implicit conversion from A to some type that implements foo. Now I basically see two options.
Define a separate, maybe even hidden class for the purpose:
protected class Fooable(a : A) {
def foo(...) = { ... }
}
implicit def a2fooable(a : A) = new Fooable(a)
Define an anonymous class inline:
implicit def a2fooable(a : A) = new { def foo(...) = { ... } }
Variant 2) is certainly less boilerplate, especially when lots of type parameters happen. On the other hand, I think it should create more overhead since (conceptually) one class per conversion is created, as opposed to one class globally in 1).
Is there a general guideline? Is there no difference, because compiler/VM get rid of the overhead of 2)?
Using a separate class is better for performance, as the alternative uses reflection.
Consider that
new { def foo(...) = { ... } }
is really
new AnyRef { def foo(...) = { ... } }
Now, AnyRef doesn't have a method foo. In Scala, this type is actually AnyRef { def foo(...): ... }, which, if you remove AnyRef, you should recognize as a structural type.
At compile time, this time can be passed back and forth, and everywhere it will be known that the method foo is callable. However, there's no structural type in the JVM, and to add an interface would require a proxy object, which would cause some problems such as breaking referential equality (ie, an object would not be equal with a structural type version of itself).
The way found around that was to use cached reflection calls for structural types.
So, if you want to use the Pimp My Library pattern for any performance-sensitive application, declare a class.
I believe 1 and 2 get compiled to the same bytecode (except for the class name that gets generated in case 2).
If Fooable exists only for you to be able to convert implicitly A to Fooable (and you're never going to directly create and use a Fooable), then I would go with option 2.
However, if you control A (meaning A is not a java library class that you can't subclass) I would consider using a trait instead of implicit conversions to add behaviour to A.
UPDATE:
I have to reconsider my answer. I would use variant 1 of your code, because variant 2 turns out to be using reflection (scala 2.8.1 on Linux).
I compiled these two versions of the same code, decompiled them to java with jd-gui and here are the results:
source code with named class
class NamedClass { def Foo : String = "foo" }
object test {
implicit def StrToFooable(a: String) = new NamedClass
def main(args: Array[String]) { println("bar".Foo) }
}
source code with anonymous class
object test {
implicit def StrToFooable(a: String) = new { def Foo : String = "foo" }
def main(args: Array[String]) { println("bar".Foo) }
}
compiled and decompiled to java with java-gui. The "named" version generates a NamedClass.class that gets decompiled to this java:
public class NamedClass
implements ScalaObject
{
public String Foo()
{
return "foo";
}
}
the anonymous generates a test$$anon$1 class that gets decompiled to the following java
public final class test$$anon$1
{
public String Foo()
{
return "foo";
}
}
so almost identical, except for the anonymous being "final" (they apparently want to make extra sure you won't get out of your way to try and subclass an anonymous class...)
however at the call site I get this java for the "named" version
public void main(String[] args)
{
Predef..MODULE$.println(StrToFooable("bar").Foo());
}
and this for the anonymous
public void main(String[] args) {
Object qual1 = StrToFooable("bar"); Object exceptionResult1 = null;
try {
exceptionResult1 = reflMethod$Method1(qual1.getClass()).invoke(qual1, new Object[0]);
Predef..MODULE$.println((String)exceptionResult1);
return;
} catch (InvocationTargetException localInvocationTargetException) {
throw localInvocationTargetException.getCause();
}
}
I googled a little and found that others have reported the same thing but I haven't found any more insight as to why this is the case.