I often want to run a small snippet of code in another namespace - perhaps a copy/pasted snippet of DSL code for example, and I'd like to avoid having to either:
Add a bunch of use clauses to my current namespace declaration. This makes the ns declaration messy, adds extra maintenance work and sometimes risks name clashes.
Add require clauses and be forced to add a namespace qualifier or alias to everything. Now my DSL code is much messier.
Ideally I'd prefer to be able to do something like:
(with-ns my.namespace
(foo bar baz))
Where foo, bar might be symbols within my.namespace, but baz is a symbol in the current (enclosing) namespace. So the code is running in something like a "local" namespace that "uses" my-namespace within its scope but otherwise doesn't affect the surrounding namespace.
Is there a standard/better way to do this? Or is this a crazy thing to want to do?
Try this one:
(defmacro with-ns [[namespace symbols] & body]
`(do (use '[~namespace :only ~symbols])
(let [result# (do ~#body)]
(doseq [sym# (map #(:name (meta (val %)))
(filter #(= (name '~namespace)
(str (:ns (meta (val %)))))
(ns-refers *ns*)))]
(ns-unmap *ns* sym#))
result#)))
(with-ns [clojure.string [split upper-case]]
(split (upper-case "it works!") #" "))
-> ["IT" "WORKS!"]
After work it removes used symbols from current ns.
This can be achieved using a macro as shown below.
NOTE: It may break in certain cases as I just tried it with a simple example
;Some other ns
(ns hello)
(def h1 10) ;in hello
(def h2 11) ;in hello
;main ns in which executing code
(ns user)
(defmacro with-ns [target-ns body]
(clojure.walk/postwalk
(fn [val]
(if (symbol? val)
(if (resolve (symbol (str target-ns "/" val)))
(symbol (str target-ns "/" val))
val) val)) body))
(def u1 100) ;in user
(with-ns hello (do (+ h1 u1))) ;110
I eventually found a macro in the old Clojure contrib that does part of this quite neatly:
(defmacro with-ns
"Evaluates body in another namespace. ns is either a namespace
object or a symbol. This makes it possible to define functions in
namespaces other than the current one."
[ns & body]
`(binding [*ns* (the-ns ~ns)]
~#(map (fn [form] `(eval '~form)) body)))
Related
In clojure, can one idiomatically obtain a function's name inside of its body, hopefully accomplishing so without introducing a new wrapper for the function's definition? can one also access the function's name inside of the body of the function's :test attribute as well?
For motivation, this can be helpful for certain logging situations, as well as for keeping the body of :test oblivious to changes to the name of the function which it is supplied for.
A short elucidation of the closest that meta gets follows; there's no this notion to supply to meta, as far as I know, in clojure.
(defn a [] (:name (meta (var a))))
Obviously it is easy to accomplish with a wrapper macro.
Edit: luckily no one so far mentioned lambda combinators.
There are 2 ways to approach your question. However, I suspect that to fully automate what you want to do, you would need to define your own custom defn replacement/wrapper.
The first thing to realize is that all functions are anonymous. When we type:
(defn hello [] (println "hi"))
we are really typing:
(def hello (fn [] (println "hi"))
we are creating a symbol hello that points to an anonymous var which in turn points to an anonymous function. However, we can give the function an "internal name" like so:
(def hello (fn fn-hello [] (println "hi")))
So now we can access the function from the outside via hello or from the inside using either hello of fn-hello symbols (please don't ever use hello in both locations or you create a lot of confusion...even though it is legal).
I frequently use the fn-hello method in (otherwise) anonymous functions since any exceptions thrown will include the fn-hello symbol which makes tracking down the source of the problem much easier (the line number of the error is often missing from the stack trace). For example when using Instaparse we need a map of anonymous transform functions like:
{
:identifier fn-identifier
:string fn-string
:integer (fn fn-integer [arg] [:integer (java.lang.Integer. arg)])
:boolean (fn fn-boolean [arg] [:boolean (java.lang.Boolean. arg)])
:namespace (fn fn-namespace [arg] [:namespace arg])
:prefix (fn fn-prefix [arg] [:prefix arg])
:organization (fn fn-organization [arg] [:organization arg])
:contact (fn fn-contact [arg] [:contact arg])
:description (fn fn-description [arg] [:description arg])
:presence (fn fn-presence [arg] [:presence arg])
:revision (fn fn-revision [& args] (prepend :revision args))
:iso-date (fn fn-iso-date [& args] [:iso-date (str/join args)])
:reference (fn fn-reference [arg] [:reference arg])
:identity (fn fn-identity [& args] (prepend :identity args))
:typedef (fn fn-typedef [& args] (prepend :typedef args))
:container (fn fn-container [& args] (prepend :container args))
:rpc (fn fn-rpc [& args] (prepend :rpc args))
:input (fn fn-input [& args] (prepend :input args))
...<snip>...
}
and giving each function the "internal name" makes debugging much, much easier. Perhaps this would be unnecessary if Clojure had better error messages, but that is a longstanding (& so far unfullfilled) wish.
You can find more details here: https://clojure.org/reference/special_forms#fn
If you read closely, it claims that (defn foo [x] ...) expands into
(def foo (fn foo [x] ...))
although you may need to experiment to see if this has already solved the use-case you are seeking. It works either way as seen in this example where we explicitly avoid the inner fn-fact name:
(def fact (fn [x] ; fn-fact omitted here
(if (zero? x)
1
(* x (fact (dec x))))))
(fact 4) => 24
This version also works:
(def fact (fn fn-fact [x]
(if (zero? x)
1
(* x (fn-fact (dec x))))))
(fact 4) => 24
(fn-fact 4) => Unable to resolve symbol: fn-fact
So we see that the "internal name" fn-fact is hidden inside the function and is invisible from the outside.
A 2nd approach, if using a macro, is to use the &form global data to access the line number from the source code. In the Tupelo library this technique is used to improve error messages for the
(defmacro dotest [& body] ; #todo README & tests
(let [test-name-sym (symbol (str "test-line-" (:line (meta &form))))]
`(clojure.test/deftest ~test-name-sym ~#body)))
This convenience macro allows the use of unit tests like:
(dotest
(is (= 3 (inc 2))))
which evalutes to
(deftest test-line-123 ; assuming this is on line 123 in source file
(is (= 3 (inc 2))))
instead of manually typing
(deftest t-addition
(is (= 3 (inc 2))))
You can access (:line (meta &form)) and other information in any macro which can make your error messages and/or Exceptions much more informative to the poor reader trying to debug a problem.
Besides the above macro wrapper example, another (more involved) example of the same technique can be seen in the Plumatic Schema library, where they wrap clojure.core/defn with an extended version.
You may also wish to view this question for clarification on how Clojure uses the "anonymous" var as an intermediary between a symbol and a function: When to use a Var instead of a function?
I have the following macro:
(defmacro my-macro [k]
`(do
(def pair
[
k
~(symbol (str "-" (name k)))]
)))
...which expands to:
(macroexpand-1 `(my-macro :n/k))
(do (def user/pair [user/k -k]))
...but instead I would like it to expand to
(do (def user/pair [:n/k -k]))
How can I make the macro keep the keyword and its namespace?
Thanks!
You need to escape k from the syntax quote using ~k:
(defmacro my-macro [k]
`(def ~'pair [~k ~(symbol (str "-" (name k)))]))
I've made a few other changes here as well:
Idiomatic formatting. Don't put ( or [ at the end of a line -- and put closing ) and ] on the same line as the expression they close.
do is entirely superfluous here.
If you want the macro to expand to (def pair ...), then you need to
escape out of the syntax quote (~)
quote the symbol pair (i.e., 'pair)
Putting this together, you have ~'pair. The reason you have to do this is because, in Clojure, `<symbol> is read as (quote <current-namespace>/foo>), where <current-namespace> stands for the current namespace. But def doesn't take names that are namespaced. Hence the ~' dance.
(But you probably want to parameterize on pair anyway ... otherwise, it's not very useful to use my-macro more than once per namespace.)
Overall, this seems like a very odd macro. I don't know what you're trying to accomplish, but I would probably take a different approach.
you can use the namespace and name function to extract the parts you want from the keyword passed in and combine them as required:
user> (defmacro my-macro [k]
`(do
(def pair
[~(keyword (str (namespace k) "/" (name k)))
~(symbol (str "-" (name k)))])))
#'user/my-macro
user> (macroexpand-1 `(my-macro :n/k))
(do (def user/pair [:n/k -k]))
Revised Answer
There are 2 things a bit confusing about your question & I misread it earlier.
You should use a regular single-quote ' with macroexpand-1, not the back-tic `. The back-tick is normally used only in a macro definition to delineate a piece of "template code".
I just noticed that the arg in the macro definition is k, and the keyword you use in the example is :n/k. These duplicate names will cause confusion.
Let's restate the problem:
(ns clj.demo)
(defmacro my-macro [arg]
`(do
(def pair
[
arg
~(symbol (str "-" (name arg)))]
)))
(println (macroexpand-1 `(my-macro :n/k)))
;=> (do (def clj.demo/pair [clj.demo/arg -k]))
So we are in the clj.demo namespace, which gets applied to the symbols pair and arg. We need to substitue the argument arg using ~:
(ns clj.demo)
(defmacro my-macro [arg]
`(do
(def pair
[
~arg
~(symbol (str "-" (name arg)))]
)))
(println (macroexpand-1 '(my-macro :n/k)))
;=> (do (def clj.demo/pair [:n/k -k]))
Which is what you want.
First, I have no experience with CS and Clojure is my first language, so pardon if the following problem has a solution, that is immediately apparent for a programmer.
The summary of the question is as follows: one needs to create atoms at will with unknown yet symbols at unknown times. My approach revolves around a) storing temporarily the names of the atoms as strings in an atom itself; b) changing those strings to symbols with a function; c) using a function to add and create new atoms. The problem pertains to step "c": calling the function does not create new atoms, but using its body does create them.
All steps taken in the REPL are below (comments follow code blocks):
user=> (def atom-pool
#_=> (atom ["a1" "a2"]))
#'user/atom-pool
'atom-pool is the atom that stores intermediate to-be atoms as strings.
user=> (defn atom-symbols []
#_=> (mapv symbol (deref atom-pool)))
#'user/atom-symbols
user=> (defmacro populate-atoms []
#_=> (let [qs (vec (remove #(resolve %) (atom-symbols)))]
#_=> `(do ~#(for [s qs]
#_=> `(def ~s (atom #{}))))))
#'user/populate-atoms
'populate-atoms is the macro, that defines those atoms. Note, the purpose of (remove #(resolve %) (atom-symbols)) is to create only yet non-existing atoms. 'atom-symbols reads 'atom-pool and turns its content to symbols.
user=> (for [s ['a1 'a2 'a-new]]
#_=> (resolve s))
(nil nil nil)
Here it is confirmed that there are no 'a1', 'a2', 'a-new' atoms as of yet.
user=> (defn new-atom [a]
#_=> (do
#_=> (swap! atom-pool conj a)
#_=> (populate-atoms)))
#'user/new-atom
'new-atom is the function, that first adds new to-be atom as string to `atom-pool. Then 'populate-atoms creates all the atoms from 'atom-symbols function.
user=> (for [s ['a1 'a2 'a-new]]
#_=> (resolve s))
(#'user/a1 #'user/a2 nil)
Here we see that 'a1 'a2 were created as clojure.lang.Var$Unbound just by defining a function, why?
user=> (new-atom "a-new")
#'user/a2
user=> (for [s ['a1 'a2 'a-new]]
#_=> (resolve s))
(#'user/a1 #'user/a2 nil)
Calling (new-atom "a-new") did not create the 'a-new atom!
user=> (do
#_=> (swap! atom-pool conj "a-new")
#_=> (populate-atoms))
#'user/a-new
user=> (for [s ['a1 'a2 'a-new]]
#_=> (resolve s))
(#'user/a1 #'user/a2 #'user/a-new)
user=>
Here we see that resorting explicitly to 'new-atom's body did create the 'a-new atom. 'a-new is a type of clojure.lang.Atom, but 'a1 and 'a2 were skipped due to already being present in the namespace as clojure.lang.Var$Unbound.
Appreciate any help how to make it work!
EDIT: Note, this is an example. In my project the 'atom-pool is actually a collection of maps (atom with maps). Those maps have keys {:name val}. If a new map is added, then I create a corresponding atom for this map by parsing its :name key.
"The summary of the question is as follows: one needs to create atoms at will with unknown yet symbols at unknown times. "
This sounds like a solution looking for a problem. I would generally suggest you try another way of achieving whatever the actual functionality is without generating vars at runtime, but if you must, you should use intern and leave out the macro stuff.
You cannot solve this with macros since macros are expanded at compile time, meaning that in
(defn new-atom [a]
(do
(swap! atom-pool conj a)
(populate-atoms)))
populate-atoms is expanded only once; when the (defn new-atom ...) form is compiled, but you're attempting to change its expansion when new-atom is called (which necessarily happens later).
#JoostDiepenmaat is right about why populate-atoms is not behaving as expected. You simply cannot do this using macros, and it is generally best to avoid generating vars at runtime. A better solution would be to define your atom-pool as a map of keywords to atoms:
(def atom-pool
(atom {:a1 (atom #{}) :a2 (atom #{})}))
Then you don't need atom-symbols or populate-atoms because you're not dealing with vars at compile-time, but typical data structures at run-time. Your new-atom function could look like this:
(defn new-atom [kw]
(swap! atom-pool assoc kw (atom #{})))
EDIT: If you don't want your new-atom function to override existing atoms which might contain actual data instead of just #{}, you can check first to see if the atom exists in the atom-pool:
(defn new-atom [kw]
(when-not (kw #atom-pool)
(swap! atom-pool assoc kw (atom #{}))))
I've already submitted one answer to this question, and I think that that answer is better, but here is a radically different approach based on eval:
(def atom-pool (atom ["a1" "a2"]))
(defn new-atom! [name]
(load-string (format "(def %s (atom #{}))" name)))
(defn populate-atoms! []
(doseq [x atom-pool]
(new-atom x)))
format builds up a string where %s is substituted with the name you're passing in. load-string reads the resulting string (def "name" (atom #{})) in as a data structure and evals it (this is equivalent to (eval (read-string "(def ...)
Of course, then we're stuck with the problem of only defining atoms that don't already exist. We could change the our new-atom! function to make it so that we only create an atom if it doesn't already exist:
(defn new-atom! [name]
(when-not (resolve (symbol name))
(load-string (format "(def %s (atom #{}))" name name))))
The Clojure community seems to be against using eval in most cases, as it is usually not needed (macros or functions will do what you want in 99% of cases*), and eval can be potentially unsafe, especially if user input is involved -- see Brian Carper's answer to this question.
*After attempting to solve this particular problem using macros, I came to the conclusion that it either cannot be done without relying on eval, or my macro-writing skills just aren't good enough to get the job done with a macro!
At any rate, I still think my other answer is a better solution here -- generally when you're getting way down into the nuts & bolts of writing macros or using eval, there is probably a simpler approach that doesn't involve metaprogramming.
EDIT: Turned out I was using require instead of :require in the namespace declaration. With :require, tools.namespace refreshes the logging namespace, and the problem goes away. I still find it curious, however, that the expression (eval `(var ~(symbol "A/func"))) does not work in the situation described below (that is, if B below is not refreshed).
Summary: I'm using tools.namespace. If I have namespaces A and B, and in B do (eval `(var ~(symbol "A/func"))), and (tools.namespace/refresh) and run the code, that works. But if I make a change to A, do (tools.namespace/refresh), so that only A refreshes, then running that expression gives the error: Cannot resolve var: A/func in this context, even though A/func exists. Why?
Longer version:
In my project, I have a logging module/namespace that uses robert-hooke (see below). I'm using tools.namespace to reload my code when I make changes.
The problem is the following: When I want to log (my logging currently just prints) something, I list the functions that I want to log in my logging namespace and do (t.n/refresh). That works. But if I make changes to the the namespaces that contain the functions that I want to log, and do (t.n/refresh) without making changes to the logging namespace, the logging no longer works (for the functions that have been refreshed). As soon as I make a change to logging, so that it too is refreshed by tools.namespace, it starts working again.
So, it's like the vars in namespaces that have been refreshed don't properly get their logging hooks. But I don't understand why.
Below is my logging namespace. I call add-logging-wrappers each time I run my program.
If I add (eval `(var ~(symbol "sv/register-damage"))) inside add-logging-wrappers, that's fine when logging has just been refreshed and the logging works. But those times the logging does not work, that expression causes the error Cannot resolve var: sv/register-damage in this context.
(ns game.logging
(require [robert.hooke :as rh]
[clojure.pprint :as pp]
[game.server.core :as sv]
[game.client.core :as cl]
[game.math :as math]
(game.common [core-functions :as ccfns]
[graphics :as gfx])
(game.server [pathfinding :as pf]))
(:use [game.utils]))
(defn log-println [name type object]
(println (str (current-thread-name) " // " name " " type ":\n"
(with-out-str
(pp/pprint object)))))
(defn print-output [name f & args]
(let [result (apply f args)]
(log-println name "output" result)
result))
(defn print-input [name f & args]
(log-println name "input" args)
(apply f args))
(defn print-call [name f & args]
(println (str (current-thread-name) "//" name))
(apply f args))
(defmacro make-name-var-list [fn-list]
`[~#(for [fn fn-list]
[(str fn) `(var ~fn)])])
(defmacro defloglist [name & fns]
`(def ~name (make-name-var-list [~#fns])))
(defn add-hooks [name-vars & wrappers]
(when (seq wrappers)
(doseq [[name var] name-vars]
(rh/add-hook var (partial (first wrappers) name)))
(recur name-vars (next wrappers))))
(defn get-ns-name-vars [ns-sym]
(-> (the-ns ns-sym) (#(.name %)) ns-interns))
(defn add-hooks-to-ns [ns-sym & wrappers]
(apply add-hooks (get-ns-name-vars ns-sym) wrappers))
(defloglist log-both
sv/distribute-exp ;; <--- things to log
sv/register-damage
sv/give-exp)
(defloglist log-input)
(defloglist log-output)
(defn add-logging-wrappers []
(dorun (->> (all-ns) (map #(.name %)) (mapcat ns-interns) (map second)
(map rh/clear-hooks)))
(add-hooks log-both print-output print-input)
(add-hooks log-input print-input)
(add-hooks log-output print-output))
I know how to forward declare a var for the current namespace. Instead, I want to declare a var from another namespace. How do I do this? This will help me eliminate a circular load dependency.
At the moment, this is what I've tried:
; this_ns.clj
(ns my-project.this-ns
(:require ...))
(ns my-project.other-ns)
(declare other-func)
(ns my-project.this-ns) ; return to original namespace
(defn func-1
[]
(my-project.other-ns/other-func))
It works, but I don't like it.
I think the solution you already have is the easiest one. If you wrap it into a macro it doesn't even look that bad anymore:
(defmacro declare-extern
[& syms]
(let [n (ns-name *ns*)]
`(do
~#(for [s syms]
`(do
(ns ~(symbol (namespace s)))
(declare ~(symbol (name s)))))
(in-ns '~n))))
Call it with:
(declare-extern my.extern.ns/abc) ;; => #<Namespace ...>
my.extern.ns/abc ;; => #<Unbound Unbound: #'my.extern.ns/abc>