Scala Macros

SCALA MACROS
Adam Warski, JavaZone 2013
@adamwarski

@adamwarski
ATTEND THIS TALK IF …
… you are curious what a macro is
… you are wondering how to write a macro in Scala
… you have not yet decided if you love or hate macros
… you’d like to know if they are used anywhere

@adamwarski
WHAT IS A MACRO?
•  Macro (large): expands into something larger
•  Function: code => code!
•  Invoked at build/compile-time

@adamwarski
SCALA MACROS
•  Written in Scala
•  Have access to and can manipulate the AST
•  Use compiler/reflection APIs
•  Type-safe

@adamwarski
MACROS IN OTHER
LANGUAGES
C/C++ – preprocessor
•  #define BUFFER_SIZE 1024
•  #define min(X, Y) ((X) < (Y) ? (X) : (Y))
Lisp/Clojure, Racket (Scheme)
•  code is data (list)
•  quoting
•  “Since macros are so much harder to use than functions, a
good rule of thumb is: don't use defmacro if defun will work
fine”
from http://www.apl.jhu.edu/~hall/Lisp-Notes/Macros.html

@adamwarski
MOTIVATION TO ADD
MACROS TO SCALA
(it’s not a lean language already!)
ü  Remove boilerplate
ü  Replace run-time reflection
ü  Generate type-checked code
ü  Deep embedding of DSLs
ü  Type-check external DSLs
ü  Simplify compiler in the long run

@adamwarski
REACTIONS TO MACROS
Mixed ;)

@adamwarski
PLAN FOR THE NEXT
50 MINUTES
1.  How to write a simple macro
2.  Where macros are used now?
3.  Upcoming new types of macros

@adamwarski
ABOUT ME
During the day: coding @ SoftwareMill
SoftwareMill: a great software house!
Afternoon: playgrounds, Duplo, etc.
Evening: blogging, open-source
•  Original author of Hibernate Envers
•  ElasticMQ, Veripacks, MacWire
http://www.warski.org

@adamwarski
“DEF” MACROS
•  Available since Scala 2.10 (Jan 2013)
•  Only one type of many possible macro types
•  Experimental status
•  But they will stay ;)

@adamwarski
WRITING A MACRO
STEP-BY-STEP
Goal – transform this:
debug(x*amount)
To:
println("x*amount = " + (x*amount))
So that it outputs:
x*amount = 10.23

@adamwarski
WHERE ARE MACROS
USED?
•  Slick
•  Akka
•  Async
•  Expecty
•  MacWire
examples are mostly from the projects’ websites

@adamwarski
SLICK
@table(name="COFFEES") case class Coffee(
@column(name="NAME") name: String,
@column(name="PRICE") price: Double
)
val q = Queryable[Coffee]
val r = q.filter(_.price > 3.0).map(_.name)

@adamwarski
ASYNC
val f1 = Future { beSlow(); 19 }
val f2 = Future { beSlow(); 23 }
val futureResult = for {
v1 <- f1
v2 <- f2
} yield v1 + v2

@adamwarski
ASYNC
val futureResult = async {
val f1 = async { beSlow(); 19 }
await(f1) + await(f2)
}

@adamwarski
ASYNC
val future = async {
val f1 = async { beSlow(); true }
if (await(f1)) await(f2) else 0
}
•  Also possible with Akka Dataflow & CPS (but that’s so ’09)
•  Can also use for-comprehensions; but quickly gets tricky

@adamwarski
ERRORS
•  Cryptic errors?
•  Can be, if generated code doesn’t compile
•  But we can provide user-friendly errors
context.error(
c.enclosingPosition,
"You can’t do that")

@adamwarski
AND OTHERS!
•  Akka 2.2 typed channels
•  ScalaMock
•  Typesafe Logging
•  …

@adamwarski
OTHER TYPES OF
MACROS
•  Coming in Scala 2.11+
•  Some also available as a compiler plugin in 2.10
based on the examples from http://scalamacros.org/

@adamwarski
DEF MACROS
•  What we’ve seen so far
•  Look like a method invocation
•  Generate code basing on:
•  The parameters
•  Enclosing method/class
•  Implicit lookups

@adamwarski
IMPLICIT MACROS
•  Useful for Type Classes
•  Available in Scala 2.10.2!
trait Showable[T] { def show(x: T): String }
def useShow[T](x: T)(implicit s: Showable[T]) =
s.show(x)
implicit object IntShowable {
def show(x: Int) = x.toString }

@adamwarski
IMPLICIT MACROS
We want to provide a “default implementation” for a type
trait Showable[T] { def show(x: T): String }
object Showable {
implicit def materialize [T]: Showable[T] =
macro ...
}
We can get access to T at compile-time and generate what’s
needed

@adamwarski
IMPLICIT MACROS
Works well with implicit search order
•  Current scope is first
•  Implicits in scope
•  Imported implicits
•  Then associated types:
•  Companion objects
•  Implicit scope of argument’s type
•  Implicit scope of type arguments

@adamwarski
MACRO ANNOTATIONS
Annotation-drive macros
•  Any definitions can be annotated
class identity extends StaticAnnotation {
def macroTransform(annottees: Any*) = macro ???
}

@adamwarski
MACRO ANNOTATIONS
•  Annottees is:
•  Annotated class + companion object
•  Method parameter, owner, companion
•  Can expand classes
•  Can create companion objects

@adamwarski
QUASIQUOTES
•  Similar to string interpolators
•  Extract from trees:
val q"def $name[..$tparams](...$vparamss): $tpt
= $body” = methodTree
•  Pattern match
tree match {
case q"def $name[..$tps](...$vps): $tpt
= $body” =>
}

@adamwarski
QUASIQUOTES
Construct
•  Terms: q"future{ $body }"
•  Types: tq"Future[$t]"
•  Cases: cq"x => x"
•  Patterns: pq"xs @ (hd :: tl)"

@adamwarski
POTENTIAL
PROBLEMS
•  Hard to write
•  Code may be harder to understand
•  And to debug

@adamwarski
WHEN TO WRITE A
MACRO?
•  Always think it through
•  Lots of repeated, boilerplate code
•  Unavoidable copy-paste (patterns)
•  Library code
macro: power => responsibility

@adamwarski
LINKS
•  http://www.warski.org/blog/2012/12/starting-with-scala-
macros-a-short-tutorial/
•  http://scalamacros.org/
•  http://slick.typesafe.com/
•  https://github.com/scala/async
•  https://github.com/adamw/macwire
•  https://github.com/adamw/scala-macro-tutorial

@adamwarski
http://codebrag.com
COME & GET A STICKER
Adam Warski @adamwarski

Scala Macros

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