Simulating single assignment in Ruby

D

Daniel Berger

Hi,

Is there a way to freeze instance variables in Ruby in order to make
them single assignment? I'm just wondering if there's a way to simulate
Erlang in this regard as a way to avoid side effects.

I don't want to simply not define (or undefine) a setter method because
you could still get at the instance variable via instance_variable_set.
Redefining instance_variable_set won't work either, because that method
is apparently not called when performing direct assignment of instance
variables. I tried calling the freeze method on the instance variables
directly but that didn't seem to work either.

Is it possible?

Regards,

Dan
 
A

Austin Ziegler

Is there a way to freeze instance variables in Ruby in order to make
them single assignment? I'm just wondering if there's a way to
simulate Erlang in this regard as a way to avoid side effects.

I don't want to simply not define (or undefine) a setter method
because you could still get at the instance variable via
instance_variable_set. Redefining instance_variable_set won't work
either, because that method is apparently not called when performing
direct assignment of instance variables. I tried calling the freeze
method on the instance variables directly but that didn't seem to work
either.

Do it differently:

require 'digest/md5'

class Module
def erl_accessor(*names)
names.each do |name|
var = "@_#{Digest::MD5.hexdigest(rand(65536).to_s + name.to_s)}"
define_method(name) { || instance_variable_get(var) }
define_method("#{name}=") { |v|
instance_variables.include? var and raise "Cannot change @#{name}."
instance_variable_set(var, v)
}
end
nil
end
end

class Foo; erl_accessor :bar, :baz; end

foo = Foo.new
foo.bar = 5

Since your actual instance variables aren't related to the names, you
can only access through accessors.

-austin
 
S

Sven Suska

Austin said:
Is there a way to freeze instance variables in Ruby in order to make
them single assignment? I'm just wondering if there's a way to
simulate Erlang in this regard as a way to avoid side effects.

class Module
def erl_accessor(*names)
[...]
define_method("#{name}=") { |v|
instance_variables.include? var and raise "Cannot change
@#{name}."
instance_variable_set(var, v)

What about Thread safety here?
I think you would have do lock before the variable is tested.
If another thread were to assign the same variable
just after the test and before the last line is executed,
then other assignment would be lost, wouldn't it?

I stumbled over this, because this issue also came up
with my proposal of a "growth-allowing freeze"-state of objects.

Regards
Sven
 
A

ara.t.howard

Hi,

Is there a way to freeze instance variables in Ruby in order to
make them single assignment? I'm just wondering if there's a way to
simulate Erlang in this regard as a way to avoid side effects.

I don't want to simply not define (or undefine) a setter method
because you could still get at the instance variable via
instance_variable_set. Redefining instance_variable_set won't work
either, because that method is apparently not called when
performing direct assignment of instance variables. I tried calling
the freeze method on the instance variables directly but that
didn't seem to work either.

Is it possible?

Regards,

Dan

cfp:~/src/ruby/ > cat a.rb
class Class
def fattr a, &b
define_method(a){ instance_eval &b }
end
end

class C
fattr:)a){ 40 }
fattr:)b){ a + 2 }
end

c = C.new
p c.b


cfp:~/src/ruby/ > ruby a.rb
42


with this approach there is simply no variable to modify - it exists
only through closure. i know someone could hack in some crazy
Binding.of_caller thing to munge the closure, but it would be very
painful.

kind regards.

-a
 
S

Sven Suska

ara.t.howard said:
class Class
def fattr a, &b
define_method(a){ instance_eval &b }
end
end

class C
fattr:)a){ 40 }
fattr:)b){ a + 2 }
end
c = C.new
p c.b
# => 42
with this approach there is simply no variable to modify - it exists
only through closure.

But a method to modify:
class C
fattr:)b){ 17 }
end
p c.b # => 17

Or did I get something wrong?

Sven
 
A

ara.t.howard

But a method to modify:
class C
fattr:)b){ 17 }
end
p c.b # => 17

Or did I get something wrong?

Sven

yes of course. and we also have 'remove_const :C' which allows us to
replace the class wholesale, and this line of reasoning extends all
the way up in ruby. still - my approach does, in fact, prevent
modifying instance vars; the fact that the class itself can stiff be
modified (by adding methods) may or may not be an issue. perhaps
enclosed attributes and C.freeze and (class << C;self;end).freeze
would be sufficient.

-a
 
D

Daniel Berger

ara.t.howard said:
cfp:~/src/ruby/ > cat a.rb
class Class
def fattr a, &b
define_method(a){ instance_eval &b }
end
end

class C
fattr:)a){ 40 }
fattr:)b){ a + 2 }
end

c = C.new
p c.b


cfp:~/src/ruby/ > ruby a.rb
42


with this approach there is simply no variable to modify - it exists
only through closure. i know someone could hack in some crazy
Binding.of_caller thing to munge the closure, but it would be very painful.

kind regards.

Ara, Austin - thanks for the respsonses. Both are interesting approaches.

However, I think I'm going to try digging into the opaque objects behind
the scenes via DL and see if I can't do something more directly. Perhaps
I'll contribute that back to evil.rb. :)

Regards,

Dan
 
P

Paul Brannan

I think what you want is a constant:

class Foo
def initialize
sc.const_set:)FOO, 42)
end

def foo
puts sc::FOO
end

def sc
class << self; self; end
end
end

Foo.new.foo #=> 42

(I wish it were possible to use just FOO instead of sc::FOO, but
constant lookup in ruby is static).

I like Ara's method too. I wouldn't have considered it.

Paul
 

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