Imagine this:
val myObject = if(someCondition) {
new Whatever with Trait1
} else if(otherCondition) {
new Whatever with Trait2 with Trait3 with Trait4
} else {
new Whatever with Trait5
}
Is the myObject object "composed" at runtime, or is the scala compiler smart enough to generate the appropriate code at compile time? What kind of performance impact will it have on the code if you have multiple places that are applying traits like in the above code?
It's composed at compile-time
The traits will be added as interfaces to the resulting type, and any concrete methods from those traits will (usually) be copied to the class in their entirety.
Occasionally, the compiler may have to provide concrete implementations via forwarders to static methods, but this isn't usually the case.
Scala will create three anonymous classes, (except the last condition is a syntax error).
Note: These classes will be named using the order in which they are defined in the scope they are defined. So... OuterClass$anon$1 -> 3. Please avoid using these anonymous classes in any long-term Java-serialization as this locks down the order of anonymous classes in your code.
Other than that, it's an awesome convenience feature!
Related
I created a class extend scala.Immutable
class SomeThing(var string: String) extends Immutable {
override def toString: String = string
}
As I expected, scala compiler should help me prevent change state of class SomeThing. But when I run this test
"Test change state of immutable interface" should "not allow" in {
val someThing = new SomeThing("hello")
someThing.string = "hello 1"
println(someThing)
}
The result is hello 1 and scala compiler don't throw any warning or error.
Why they have to add Immutable trait without help us prevent object mutable?
There are several aspects to this question.
1. A simple one is that Scala compiler can't really ensure immutability for many various reasons. For example, the main target platform JVM allows modifying even final fields using reflection. Another reason this is not enforceable is code like this
/////////////////////////////////////////
//// library v1
package library
class LibraryData(val value:Int)
/////////////////////////////////////////
//// code that uses the library
package app
class UserData(val data:LibraryData) extends Immutable
/////////////////////////////////////////
//// library v2
package library
class LibraryData(var value:Int) //now change it to var!
Since the "library" is compiled independently of the "app" and doesn't even know about existence of the "app" there is no point in time where compiler can catch the broken contract.
2. More fundamental misunderstanding you seem to have is what trait does. In this context trait (or "interface" in some other languages) represents a contract between the implementation and the user-code about how the implementation can and should behave. However not every kind of a contract can be represented as a trait (at least without making the code super-complicated). For example, for a mutable collection there is a contract that size should return the number of times add (or +=) has been called but there is no way to represent such a contract as a trait besides declaring that there are methods size and += with corresponding signatures. On the other hand, for most of the contracts there is no way to enforce implementation to follow the contract . For example, an implementation of size that always returns 0 technically matches all the types but is clearly breaking the contract.
Similarly Immutable doc says:
A marker trait for all immutable data structures such as immutable collections.
So it is just a marker trait which is one of the ways to work around contracts that can't be really represented as types. And it says that whoever implements that trait claims to be an immutable object. Your code claims that but clearly breaks the contract. So technically it is your fault for not respecting the contract.
It seems to me that I can make just about anything using object, trait, abstract class and in rare occasions, case class. Most of this is in the form object extends trait. So, I'm wondering, when should I, if ever, use a plain, standard class?
This is not a right place to ask this question
Looks like you are new Scala
Class is a specification for something(some entity) you want to model . It contains behavior and state
There is only one way to declare so called regular class using keyword class
Both trait and abstract class are used for inheritance.
trait is used for inheritance (generally to put common behavior in there). trait is akin to interface in Java. multiple inheritance possible with traits but not abstract class.
A class can extends one class or abstract class but can mixin any number of traits. Traits can have behavior and state.
case class is a nothing but a class but compiler produces some boilerplate code for us to make things easy and look good.
object is used when you want to declare some class but you want to have single instance of the class in the JVM (remember singleton pattern).
If an object performs stateful computations on its members i.e. its members are declared with vars;
Or, even if its member are only declared with vals but those vals store mutable data structures which can be edited in place, then it should be an ordinary (mutable) class akin to a Java mutable object.
The idiomatic way of using Case classes in Scala is as immutable types i.e. all the constructor arguments are vals. We could use vars but then we lose the advantages of case classes like equality comparisons will break over time.
Some advise from Programming in Scala by Odersky et al on deciding between using traits, abstract classes and concrete classes:
If the behavior will not be reused, then make it a concrete class. It is not reusable behavior after all.
If it might be reused in multiple, unrelated classes, make it a trait.
Only traits can be mixed into different parts of the class hierarchy.
If you want to inherit from it in Java code, use an abstract class.
Since traits with code do not have a close Java analog, it tends to be
awkward to inherit from a trait in a Java class. Inheriting from a
Scala class, meanwhile, is exactly like inheriting from a Java class.
As one exception, a Scala trait with only abstract members translates
directly to a Java interface, so you should feel free to define such
traits even if you expect Java code to inherit from it. See Chapter 29
for more information on working with Java and Scala together.
If you plan to distribute it in compiled form, and you expect outside
groups to write classes inheriting from it, you might lean towards
using an abstract class. The issue is that when a trait gains or loses
a member, any classes that inherit from it must be recompiled, even if
they have not changed. If outside clients will only call into the
behavior, instead of inheriting from it, then using a trait is fine.
If efficiency is very important, lean towards using a class. Most Java
runtimes make a virtual method invocation of a class member a faster
operation than an interface method invocation. Traits get compiled to
interfaces and therefore may pay a slight performance overhead.
However, you should make this choice only if you know that the trait
in question constitutes a performance bottleneck and have evidence
that using a class instead actually solves the problem.
If you still do not know, after considering the above, then start by
making it as a trait. You can always
change it later, and in general using a trait keeps more options open.
Given the following:
class TestClass extends TestTrait {
def doesSomething() = methodValue + intValue
}
trait TestTrait {
val intValue = 4
val unusedValue = 5
def methodValue = "method"
def unusedMethod = "unused method"
}
When the above code runs, will TestClass actually have memory allocated to unusedValue or unusedMethod? I've used javap and I know that there exists an unusedValue and an unusedMethod, but I cannot determine if they are actually populated with any sort of state or memory allocation.
Basically, I'm trying to understand if a class ALWAYS gets all that a trait provides, or if the compiler is smart enough to only provide what the class actually uses from the trait?
If a trait always imposes itself on a class, it seems like it could be inefficient, since I expect many programmers will use traits as mixins and therefore wasting memory everywhere.
Thanks to all who read and help me get to the bottom of this!
Generally speaking, in languages like Scala and Java and C++, each class has a table of pointers to its instance methods. If your question is whether the Scala compiler will allocate slots in the method table for unusedMethod then I would say yes it should.
I think your question is whether the Scala compiler will look at the body of TestClass and say "whoa, I only see uses of methodValue and intValue, so being a good compiler I'm going to refrain from allocating space in TestClass's method table for unusedMethod. But it can't really do this in general. The reason is, TestClass will be compiled into a class file TestClass.class and this class may be used in a library by programmers that you don't even know.
And what will they want to do with your class? This:
var x = new TestClass();
print(x.unusedMethod)
See, the thing is the compiler can't predict who is going to use this class in the future, so it puts all methods into its method table, even the ones not called by other methods in the class. This applies to methods declared in the class or picked up via an implemented trait.
If you expect the compiler to do global system-wide static analysis and optimization over a fixed, closed system then I suppose in theory it could whittle away such things, but I suspect that would be a very expensive optimization and not really worth it. If you need this kind of memory savings you would be better off writing smaller traits on your own. :)
It may be easiest to think about how Scala implements traits at the JVM level:
An interface is generated with the same name as the trait, containing all the trait's method signatures
If the trait contains only abstract methods, then nothing more is needed
If the trait contains any concrete methods, then the definition of these will be copied into any class that mixes in the trait
Any vals/vars will also get copied verbatim
It's also worth noting how a hypothetical var bippy: Int is implemented in equivalent java:
private int bippy; //backing field
public int bippy() { return this.bippy; } //getter
public void bippy_$eq(int x) { this.bippy = x; } //setter
For a val, the backing field is final and no setter is generated
When mixing-in a trait, the compiler doesn't analyse usage. For one thing, this would break the contract made by the interface. It would also take an unacceptably long time to perform such an analysis. This means that you will always inherit the cost of the backing fields from any vals/vars that get mixed in.
As you already hinted, if this is a problem then the solution is just use defs in your traits.
There are several other benefits to such an approach and, thanks to the uniform access principle, you can always override such a method with a val further down in the inheritance hierarchy if you need to.
Coming from Java I am confused by the class/object distinction of scala.
Note that I do not ask for the formal difference; there are enough
references on the web which explain this, and there are related questions on
SO.
My questions are:
Why did the designers of scala
choosed to make things more
complicated (compared to Java or
C#)? What disadvantages do I have to
expect if I ignore this distinction
and declare only classes?
Thanks.
Java classes contain two completely different types of members -- instance members (such as BigDecimal.plus) and static members (such as BigDecimal.valueOf). In Scala, there are only instance members. This is actually a simplification! But it leaves a problem: where do we put methods like valueOf? That's where objects are useful.
class BigDecimal(value: String) {
def plus(that: BigDecimal): BigDecimal = // ...
}
object BigDecimal {
def valueOf(i: Int): BigDecimal = // ...
}
You can view this as the declaration of anonymous class and a single instantiation thereof:
class BigDecimal$object {
def valueOf(i: Int): BigDecimal = // ...
}
lazy val BigDecimal = new BigDecimal$object
When reading Scala code, it is crucial to distinguish types from values. I've configured IntelliJ to hightlight types blue.
val ls = List.empty[Int] // List is a value, a reference the the object List
ls: List[Int] // List is a type, a reference to class List
Java also has another degree of complexity that was removed in Scala -- the distinction between fields and methods. Fields aren't allowed on interfaces, except if they are static and final; methods can be overriden, fields instead are hidden if redefined in a subclass. Scala does away with this complexity, and only exposes methods to the programmer.
Finally, a glib answer to your second question: If you don't declare any objects, you're program may never run, as you to define the equivalent of public static void main(String... args) {} in Scala, you need at least one object!
Scala doesn't have any notion of static methods with standard classes, so in those scenarios you'll have to use objects. Interesting article here which provides a good intro:
http://www.codecommit.com/blog/scala/scala-for-java-refugees-part-3
(scroll down to Scala’s Sort-of Statics)
One way to look at it is this. An executing program consists of a community of objects and threads. Threads execute code within the context of objects -- i.e. there is always a "this" object that a thread is executing within. This is a simplification from Java in the sense that in Java, there is not always a "this". But now there is a chicken/egg problem. If objects are created by threads and threads are executed within objects, what object is the first thread initially executing within. There has to be a nonempty set of objects that exist at the start of program execution. These are the objects declared with the object keyword.
What is the advantage of using an abstract class instead of a trait (apart from performance)? It seems like abstract classes can be replaced by traits in most cases.
I can think of two differences
Abstract classes can have constructor parameters as well as type parameters. Traits can have only type parameters. There was some discussion that in future even traits can have constructor parameters
Abstract classes are fully interoperable with Java. You can call them from Java code without any wrappers. Traits are fully interoperable only if they do not contain any implementation code
There's a section in Programming in Scala called "To trait, or not to trait?" which addresses this question. Since the 1st ed is available online, I'm hoping it's OK to quote the whole thing here. (Any serious Scala programmer should buy the book):
Whenever you implement a reusable collection of behavior, you will
have to decide whether you want to use a trait or an abstract class.
There is no firm rule, but this section contains a few guidelines to
consider.
If the behavior will not be reused, then make it a concrete class. It
is not reusable behavior after all.
If it might be reused in multiple, unrelated classes, make it a trait.
Only traits can be mixed into different parts of the class hierarchy.
If you want to inherit from it in Java code, use an abstract class.
Since traits with code do not have a close Java analog, it tends to be
awkward to inherit from a trait in a Java class. Inheriting from a
Scala class, meanwhile, is exactly like inheriting from a Java class.
As one exception, a Scala trait with only abstract members translates
directly to a Java interface, so you should feel free to define such
traits even if you expect Java code to inherit from it. See Chapter 29
for more information on working with Java and Scala together.
If you plan to distribute it in compiled form, and you expect outside
groups to write classes inheriting from it, you might lean towards
using an abstract class. The issue is that when a trait gains or loses
a member, any classes that inherit from it must be recompiled, even if
they have not changed. If outside clients will only call into the
behavior, instead of inheriting from it, then using a trait is fine.
If efficiency is very important, lean towards using a class. Most Java
runtimes make a virtual method invocation of a class member a faster
operation than an interface method invocation. Traits get compiled to
interfaces and therefore may pay a slight performance overhead.
However, you should make this choice only if you know that the trait
in question constitutes a performance bottleneck and have evidence
that using a class instead actually solves the problem.
If you still do not know, after considering the above, then start by
making it as a trait. You can always change it later, and in general
using a trait keeps more options open.
As #Mushtaq Ahmed mentioned, a trait cannot have any parameters passed to the primary constructor of a class.
Another difference is the treatment of super.
The other difference between classes and traits is that whereas in classes, super calls are statically bound, in traits, they are dynamically bound. If you write super.toString in a class, you know exactly which method implementation will be invoked. When you write the same thing in a trait, however, the method implementation to invoke for the super call is undefined when you define the trait.
See the rest of Chapter 12 for more details.
Edit 1 (2013):
There is a subtle difference in the way abstract classes behaves compared to traits. One of the linearization rules is that it preserves the inheritance hierarchy of the classes, which tends to push abstract classes later in the chain while traits can happily be mixed in. In certain circumstances, it's actually preferable to be in latter position of the class linearization, so abstract classes could be used for that. See constraining class linearization (mixin order) in Scala.
Edit 2 (2018):
As of Scala 2.12, trait's binary compatibility behavior has changed. Prior to 2.12, adding or removing a member to the trait required recompilation of all classes that inherit the trait, even if the classes have not changed. This is due to the way traits were encoded in JVM.
As of Scala 2.12, traits compile to Java interfaces, so the requirement has relaxed a bit. If the trait does any of the following, its subclasses still require recompilation:
defining fields (val or var, but a constant is ok – final val without result type)
calling super
initializer statements in the body
extending a class
relying on linearization to find implementations in the right supertrait
But if the trait does not, you can now update it without breaking binary compatibility.
For whatever it is worth, Odersky et al's Programming in Scala recommends that, when you doubt, you use traits. You can always change them into abstract classes later on if needed.
Other than the fact that you cannot directly extend multiple abstract classes, but you can mixin multiple traits into a class, it's worth mentioning that traits are stackable, since super calls in a trait are dynamically bound (it is referring a class or trait mixed before current one).
From Thomas's answer in Difference between Abstract Class and Trait:
trait A{
def a = 1
}
trait X extends A{
override def a = {
println("X")
super.a
}
}
trait Y extends A{
override def a = {
println("Y")
super.a
}
}
scala> val xy = new AnyRef with X with Y
xy: java.lang.Object with X with Y = $anon$1#6e9b6a
scala> xy.a
Y
X
res0: Int = 1
scala> val yx = new AnyRef with Y with X
yx: java.lang.Object with Y with X = $anon$1#188c838
scala> yx.a
X
Y
res1: Int = 1
When extending an abstract class, this shows that the subclass is of a similar kind. This is not neccessarily the case when using traits, I think.
In Programming Scala the authors say that abstract classes make a classical object oriented "is-a" relationship while traits are a scala-way of composition.
Abstract classes can contain behaviour - They can parameterized with constructor args (which traits can't) and represent a working entity. Traits instead just represent a single feature, an interface of one functionality.
A class can inherit from multiple traits but only one abstract class.
Abstract classes can have constructor parameters as well as type parameters. Traits can have only type parameters. For example, you can’t say trait t(i: Int) { }; the i parameter is illegal.
Abstract classes are fully interoperable with Java. You can call them from Java code without any wrappers. Traits are fully interoperable only if they do not contain any implementation code.