NEScala '16: Scala Macros for Mortals, or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Mumbling “WTF?!?!”

Since their introduction in 2.10, Macros have veritably taken Scala by storm. They pop up everywhere, often providing elegant syntax extensions for Scala libraries; note the prevalence of "sql" string interpolation macros, for example.

Many developers, however, are scared and confused by Macros – rightly so. Many examples of Macros require deep knowledge of the Scala AST, internals and oddities. But hope exists: newer features like quasiquotes make it ridiculously easy to write powerful Macros with code templating.

In this talk, we’ll demystify just how Macros work and are constructed, walking through many of the different "types" of Macros that Scala supports. A final focus will be given to the use of the newer Quasiquotes and Annotations features as a way of quickly constructing powerful new code features in your own Scala code.

Transcript

1. Scala Macros for Mortals, or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Mumbling “WTF?!?!” Brendan McAdams <brendan@boldradius.com> @rit 1 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
2. What Are Macros? (There's some really good documentation) 2 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
3. 3 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
4. “metaprogramming” 4 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
5. But Seriously, What Are Macros? • ‘metaprogramming’, from the Latin: ‘WTF?’. • I mean, “code that writes code”. • Write ‘extensions’ to Scala which are evaluated/expanded at compile time. • Macros may generate new code or simply evaluate existing code. 5 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
6. Examples of Macros Def Macros • Def Macros are used to write, essentially, new methods. • Facility for us to write powerful new syntax that feels ‘built-in’, such as Shapeless' “This Shouldn't Compile” illTyped macro... scala> illTyped { """1+1 : Int""" } <console>:19: error: Type-checking succeeded unexpectedly. Expected some error. illTyped { """1+1 : Int""" } ^ 6 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
7. Examples of Macros Annotation Macros • Annotations Macros let us write annotations which can be then rewritten or expanded at compile time: @hello object Test extends App { println(this.hello) } • ... And a lot more. 7 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
8. I'm Hoping To Make This Easy For You • I'm pretty new to this Macro thing, and hoping to share knowledge from a beginner's standpoint. • Without naming names, many Macros talks are given by Deeply Scary Sorcerers and Demigods who sometimes forget how hard this stuff is for newbies. • Let's take a look at this through really fresh, profusely bleeding eyeballs. 8 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
9. Once Upon A Time... • The only way to add compile time functionality to Scala was by writing compiler plugins. • Esoteric, harder to ship (i.e. user must include a compiler plugin), not a lot of docs or examples. • Required deep knowledge of the AST: Essentially generating new Scala by hand-coding ASTs.† • I've done a little bit of compiler plugin work: the AST can be tough to deal with.§ § Some of the cool stuff in Macros like Quasiquotes can be used in Compiler Plugins now, too. † Abstract Syntax Tree. A simple “tree” of case-class like objects to be converted to bytecode... or JavaScript. 9 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
10. An AST Amuse Bouche Given a small piece of Scala code, what might the AST look like? class StringInterp { val int = 42 val dbl = Math.PI val str = "My hovercraft is full of eels" println(s"String: $str Double: $dbl Int: $int Int Expr: ${int * 1.0}") } 10 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
11. My God... It's Full of ... Uhm Block( List( ClassDef(Modifiers(), TypeName("StringInterp"), List(), Template( List(Ident(TypeName("AnyRef"))), noSelfType, List(DefDef(Modifiers(), termNames.CONSTRUCTOR, List(), List(List()), TypeTree(), Block(List(Apply(Select(Super(This(typeNames.EMPTY), typeNames.EMPTY), termNames.CONSTRUCTOR), List())), Literal(Constant(())))), ValDef(Modifiers(), TermName("int"), TypeTree(), Literal(Constant(42))), ValDef(Modifiers(), TermName("dbl"), TypeTree(), Literal(Constant(3.141592653589793))), ValDef(Modifiers(), TermName("str"), TypeTree(), Literal(Constant("My hovercraft is full of eels"))), Apply(Select(Ident(scala.Predef), TermName("println")), List(Apply(Select(Apply(Select(Ident(scala.StringContext), TermName("apply")), List(Literal(Constant("String: ")), Literal(Constant(" Double: ")), Literal(Constant(" Int: ")), Literal(Constant(" Int Expr: ")), Literal(Constant("")))), TermName("s")), List(Select(This(TypeName("StringInterp")), TermName("str")), Select(This(TypeName("StringInterp")), TermName("dbl")), Select(This(TypeName("StringInterp")), TermName("int")), Apply(Select(Select(This(TypeName("StringInterp")), TermName("int")), TermName("$times")), List(Literal(Constant(1.0))))))))) ))), Literal(Constant(()))) 11 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
12. 12 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
13. Enter The Macro • Since Scala 2.10, Macros have shipped as an experimental feature. • Seem to have been adopted fairly quickly: I see them all over the place. • AST Knowledge can be somewhat avoided, with some really cool tools to generate it for you. • Macros make enhancing Scala much easier than writing compiler plugins. • NOTE: You need to define your macros in a separate project / library from anywhere you call it. 13 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
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15. Macro Paradise • The Macro project for Scala is evolving quickly. • They release and add new features far more frequently than Scala does. • “Macro Paradise” is a compiler plugin meant to bring Macro improvements into Scala¶ as they become available. • One of the features currently existing purely in Macro Paradise is Macro Annotations. • You can learn more about Macro Paradise at http:/ /docs.scala-lang.org/overviews/ macros/paradise.html ¶ Focused on reliability with the current production release of Scala. 15 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
16. Macro Annotations ADT Validation • Macro Annotations let us build annotations that expand via Macros. • I've written a Macro that verifies the "Root" type of an ADT is valid. The rules: • The root type must be either a trait or an abstract class. • The root type must be sealed. • I've done this with AST manipulation to demo what that looks like. 16 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
17. Macro Annotations ADT Validation • You can find this code at https:/ /github.com/bwmcadams/supreme- macro-adventure • I was feeling whimsical, and used part of a suggested random repo name from Github... • Let's look at some chunks of ScalaTest “should compile” / “should not compile” code I use to validate my ADT Macro 17 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
18. Macro Annotations ADT Validation "A test of annotating stuff with the ADT Compiler Annotation" should "Reject an unsealed trait" in { """ | @ADT trait Foo """.stripMargin mustNot compile } it should "Reject a Singleton Object" in { """ | @ADT object Bar """.stripMargin mustNot compile } 18 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
19. Macro Annotations ADT Validation it should "Approve a sealed trait" in { """ | @ADT sealed trait Spam { | def x: Int | } """.stripMargin must compile } it should "Approve a sealed, abstract class" in { """ | @ADT sealed abstract class Eggs """.stripMargin must compile } 19 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
20. Macro Annotations ADT Validation it should "Approve a sealed trait with type parameters" in { """ | @ADT sealed trait Klang[T] { | def x: Int | } """.stripMargin must compile } it should "Approve a sealed, abstract class with type parameters" in { """ | @ADT sealed abstract class Odersky[T] """.stripMargin must compile } 20 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
21. ADT Validation • First, we need to define an annotation: @compileTimeOnly("Enable Macro Paradise for Expansion of Annotations via Macros.") final class ADT extends StaticAnnotation { def macroTransform(annottees: Any*): Any = macro ADTMacros.annotation_impl } • @compileTimeOnly makes sure we've enabled Macro Paradise: otherwise, our annotation fails to expand at compile time. • macroTransform delegates to an actual Macro implementation which validates our ‘annottees’. 21 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
22. ADT Validation A quick note on the ‘annottees’ variable... • This annotation macro is called once per annotated class. The fact that it has to take varargs can be confusing. • If you annotate a class with a companion object, both are passed in. • If you annotate an object with a companion class, only the object is passed in. • You must return both from your macro, or you get an error: top-level class with companion can only expand into a block consisting in eponymous companions 22 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
23. The Code... We could do this with the AST... def annotation_impl(c: whitebox.Context)(annottees: c.Expr[Any]*): c.Expr[Any] = { import c.universe._ import Flag._ val p = c.enclosingPosition val inputs = annottees.map(_.tree).toList val result: Tree = { // Tree manipulation code } // if no errors, return the original syntax tree c.Expr[Any](result) } 23 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
24. Matching Our Tree inputs match { // both classes & traits case (cD @ ClassDef(mods, name, tparams, impl)) :: Nil 㱺 validateClassDef(cD, mods, name, tparams, impl, companion = None) // annotated class with companion object. case (cD @ ClassDef(mods, name, tparams, impl)) :: (mD: ModuleDef) :: Nil 㱺 validateClassDef(cD, mods, name, tparams, impl, companion = Some(mD)) case (o @ ModuleDef(_, name, _)) :: Nil 㱺 c.error(p, s"ADT Roots (object $name) may not be Objects.") o // ... corner cases such as vals, vars, defs 24 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
25. Matching Our Tree case x :: Nil 㱺 c.error(p, s"Invalid ADT Root ($x) [${x.getClass}].") x case Nil 㱺 c.error(p, "Cannot validate ADT Root of empty Tree.") // the errors should cause us to stop before this but needed to match up our match type reify {}.tree 25 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
26. Validating "Valid" Possibilities def validateClassDef(cD: c.universe.ClassDef, mods: c.universe.Modifiers, name: c.universe.TypeName, tparams: List[c.universe.TypeDef], impl: c.universe.Template, companion: Option[ModuleDef]): c.universe.Tree = { if (mods.hasFlag(TRAIT)) { if (!mods.hasFlag(SEALED)) { c.error(p, s"ADT Root traits (trait $name) must be sealed.") } else { c.info(p, s"ADT Root trait $name sanity checks OK.", force = true) } companion match { case Some(mD) 㱺 q"$cD; $mD" case None 㱺 cD } 26 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
27. Validating "Valid" Possibilities } else if (!mods.hasFlag(ABSTRACT)) { c.error(p, s"ADT Root classes (class $name) must be abstract.") cD } else if (!mods.hasFlag(SEALED)) { // class that's abstract c.error(p, s"ADT Root classes (abstract class $name) must be sealed.") cD } else { c.info(p, s"ADT Root class $name sanity checks OK.", force = true) companion match { // Using ClassDef match, Scala requires tree includes all annottees (companions) sent in. case Some(mD) 㱺 q"$cD; $mD" case None 㱺 cD } } } 27 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
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29. Macros & The AST • Macros are still really built with the AST, but lately Macros provide tools to generate ASTs from code (which is what I use, mostly). • The first, and simplest, is reify, which we can use to generate an AST for us. 29 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
30. Peeking at AST Examples for “Inspiration” Remember my first example of the AST? I actually printed it out using reify: println(showRaw(reify { class StringInterp { val int = 42 val dbl = Math.PI val str = "My hovercraft is full of eels" println(s"String: $str Double: $dbl Int: $int Int Expr: ${int * 1.0}") } }.tree)) .tree will replace the reify ‘expansion’ code with the AST associated. showRaw converts it to a printable format for us. 30 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
31. 31 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
32. Quasiquotes for More Sanity • There's really no way – yet – to avoid the AST Completely. But the Macro system continues to improve to give us ways to use it less and less. • Quasiquotes, added in Scala 2.11, lets us write the equivalent of String Interpolation code that ‘evals’ to a Syntax Tree. • We'll introduce Quasiquotes, and, time permitting, we're going to also look at a Quasiquotes version of the ADT Macro. 32 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
33. Quasiquotes in Action Setting Up Our Imports There are some implicits we need in scope for Quasiquotes Ah, the joy of imports... import language.experimental.macros import reflect.macros.Context import scala.annotation.StaticAnnotation import scala.reflect.runtime.{universe => ru} import ru._ Now we're ready to generate some Syntax Trees! 33 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
34. Quasiquotes in Action Writing Some Trees Quasiquotes look like String Interpolation, but we place a q in front of our string instead of s... and generate code! scala> q"def echo(str: String): String = str" res4: reflect.runtime.universe.DefDef = def echo(str: String): String = str 34 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
35. Quasiquotes in Action Writing Some Trees scala> val wtfException = q""" case class OMGWTFBBQ(message: String = null) extends Exception with scala.util.control.NoStackTrace """ wtfException: reflect.runtime.universe.ClassDef = case class OMGWTFBBQ extends Exception with scala.util.control.NoStackTrace with scala.Product with scala.Serializable { <caseaccessor> <paramaccessor> val message: String = _; def <init>(message: String = null) = { super.<init>(); () } 35 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
36. Extracting with Quasiquotes It turns out Quasiquotes can do extraction too, which I find sort of fun. scala> val q"""case class $cname[..$tparams](..$params) extends $parent with ..$traits { ..$body }""" = wtfException cname: reflect.runtime.universe.TypeName = OMGWTFBBQ tparams: List[reflect.runtime.universe.TypeDef] = List() params: List[reflect.runtime.universe.ValDef] = List(<caseaccessor> <paramaccessor> val message: String = null) parent: reflect.runtime.universe.Tree = Exception traits: List[reflect.runtime.universe.Tree] = List(scala.util.control.NoStackTrace) body: List[reflect.runtime.universe.Tree] = List() 36 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
37. 37 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
38. ADT Macro with Quasiquotes • With Quasiquotes, we can implement our ADT in a pure match with pattern guards. • It is nearly half the # of lines. 38 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
39. Traits & Classes Validation val result: Tree = inputs match { case (t @ q"$mods trait $name[..$tparams] extends ..$parents { ..$body }") :: Nil if mods.hasFlag(SEALED) 㱺 c.info(p, s"ADT Root trait $name sanity checks OK.", force = true) t case (t @ q"$mods trait $name[..$tparams] extends ..$parents { ..$body }") :: Nil 㱺 c.error(p, s"ADT Root traits (trait $name) must be sealed.") t 39 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
40. Classes Validation // there's no bitwise AND (just OR) on Flags case (cls @ q"$mods class $name[..$tparams] extends ..$parents { ..$body }") :: Nil if mods.hasFlag(ABSTRACT) && mods.hasFlag(SEALED) 㱺 c.info(p, s"ADT Root class $name sanity checks OK.", force = true) cls case (cls @ q"$mods class $name[..$tparams] extends ..$parents { ..$body }") :: Nil 㱺 c.error(p, s"ADT Root classes (class $name) must be abstract and sealed.") cls 40 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
41. Singletons & Trait Companions Validation case (o @ q"$mods object $name") :: Nil 㱺 c.error(p, s"ADT Roots (object $name) may not be Objects.") o // companions case (t @ q"$mods trait $name[..$tparams] extends ..$parents { ..$body }") :: (mD: ModuleDef):: Nil if mods.hasFlag(SEALED) 㱺 c.info(p, s"ADT Root trait $name sanity checks OK.", force = true) q"$t; $mD" case (t @ q"$mods trait $name[..$tparams] extends ..$parents { ..$body }") :: (mD: ModuleDef) :: Nil 㱺 c.error(p, s"ADT Root traits (trait $name) must be sealed.") q"$t; $mD" 41 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
42. Singletons & Trait Companions Validation // there's no bitwise AND (just OR) on Flags case (cls @ q"$mods class $name[..$tparams] extends ..$parents { ..$body }") :: (mD: ModuleDef) :: Nil 㱺 c.info(p, s"ADT Root class $name sanity checks OK.", force = true) q"$cls; $mD" case (cls @ q"$mods class $name[..$tparams] extends ..$parents { ..$body }") :: (mD: ModuleDef) :: Nil 㱺 c.error(p, s"ADT Root classes (class $name) must be abstract and sealed.") q"$cls; $mD" 42 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
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44. Closing Thoughts • Macros are undoubtedly cool, and rapidly evolving. But be cautious. • “When all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a thumb...” — me • Macros can enable great development, but also hinder it if overused. Think carefully about their introduction, and their impact on your codebase. 44 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16
45. Questions? 45 The "WTF" of Macros - NEScala '16