Upgrade to Pro — share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …

ScalaDays SF 2015: A Skeptic's Guide to Scalaz'...

ScalaDays SF 2015: A Skeptic's Guide to Scalaz' Gateway Drugs

Brendan McAdams

March 17, 2015
Tweet

More Decks by Brendan McAdams

Other Decks in Technology

Transcript

  1. How I Used to See scalaz • In the past,

    I've seen scalaz as fairly intimidating • People always spoke about it being more "pure"/"haskelly"/"mathy" • I sort of suck at math • "What's wrong with what I have in standard Scala?"
  2. The Road to scalaz • Once I got started, it

    was hard to stop • The constructs are powerful, and mostly useful • I am by no means an expert, however • This is not a math/category theory/ haskell talk
  3. The Road to scalaz • I want you to learn:

    • "Hey, this stuff may be useful!" • I don't want you to learn (from me): • "A monad is a monoid in the category of endofunctors, what's the problem?"
  4. The Road to scalaz problems to solve • Providing clearer

    errors & validating input was a problem • Our API Server was part of a larger application: error passing was hard • 500s & generic exceptions, complicate frontend devs debugging
  5. Helping developers help themselves • An Error Occurred • API

    received bad/invalid data? (e.g. JSON failed to parse) • Database failed? • What if multiple errors occurred? • How do we communicate this effectively?
  6. Scala's Either: The limitations • Scala's builtin Either is a

    commonly used tool, allowing Left and Right Projections • By convention, Left indicates an error while Right indicates a success • Good concept, mediocre interaction
  7. The Problem with Either scala> val success = Right("Success!") success:

    scala.util.Right[Nothing,String] = Right(Success!) scala> success.isRight res2: Boolean = true scala> success.isLeft res3: Boolean = false scala> for { | x <- success | } yield x <console>:10: error: value map is not a member of scala.util.Right[Nothing,String] x <- success ^ • Not a Monad. Pain in the ass to extract.
  8. Disjunctions \/ as an Alternative • scalaz \/ (aka Disjunction)

    assumes we mostly want the right (success) value - aka "Right Bias" • Unpacks in for comprehensions / map / flatMap where the "positive" \/- value "continues", and "negative" -\/ aborts
  9. Disjunctions \/ as an Alternative Best Practice: When declaring types,

    prefer infix notation, e.g. def query(arg: String): Error \/ Success vs. standard notation such as def query(arg: String): \/[Error, Success]
  10. import scalaz._ import Scalaz._ scala> "Success!".right res7: scalaz.\/[Nothing,String] = \/-(Success!)

    scala> "Failure!".left res8: scalaz.\/[String,Nothing] = -\/(Failure!) Postfix Operators (.left & .right) allow us to convert an existing Scala value to a disjunction.
  11. import scalaz._ import Scalaz._ scala> \/.left("Failure!") res10: scalaz.\/[String,Nothing] = -\/(Failure!)

    scala> \/.right("Success!") res12: scalaz.\/[Nothing,String] = \/-(Success!)
  12. import scalaz._ import Scalaz._ scala> -\/("Failure!") res9: scalaz.-\/[String] = -\/(Failure!)

    scala> \/-("Success!") res11: scalaz.\/-[String] = \/-(Success!) Or go fully symbolic with -\/ for left and \/- for right
  13. Digression: Scala Option • Scala Option is a commonly used

    container, having a None and a Some subtype • Like \/ it also has a bias towards a value: Some • Comprehension over it has issues with "undiagnosed aborts"
  14. case class Address(city: String) case class User(first: String, last: String,

    address: Option[Address]) case class DBObject(id: Long, user: Option[User]) val brendan = Some(DBObject(1, Some(User("Brendan", "McAdams", None)))) val someOtherGuy = Some(DBObject(2, None))
  15. for { dao <- brendan user <- dao.user } yield

    user /* res13: Option[User] = Some(User(Brendan,McAdams,None)) */ for { dao <- someOtherGuy user <- dao.user } yield user /* res14: Option[User] = None */ • What went wrong?
  16. \/ To the Rescue • Comprehending over groups of options

    leads to "silent failure" • Luckily, scalaz includes implicits to help convert an Option to a Disjunction • \/ right bias makes it easy to comprehend • On a left, we'll get potentially useful information instead of None
  17. None \/> "No object found" /* res0: scalaz.\/[String,Nothing] = -\/(No

    object found) */ None toRightDisjunction "No object found" /* res1: scalaz.\/[String,Nothing] = -\/(No object found) */ Some("My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels") \/> "No object found" /* res2: scalaz.\/[String, String] = \/-(My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels) */ Some("I Will Not Buy This Record It Is Scratched") .toRightDisjunction("No object found") /* res3: scalaz.\/[String, String] = \/-(I Will Not Buy This Record, It Is Scratched") */
  18. for { dao <- brendan \/> "No user by that

    ID" user <- dao.user \/> "Join failed: no user object" } yield user /* res0: scalaz.\/[String,User] = \/-(User(Brendan,McAdams,None)) */ for { dao <- someOtherGuy \/> "No user by that ID" user <- dao.user \/> "Join failed: no user object" } yield user /* res1: scalaz.\/[String,User] = -\/(Join failed: no user object) */ Suddenly we have much more useful failure information... but what if we want to do something beyond comprehensions?
  19. Validation • Validation looks similar to \/ (and you can

    convert between them) • Subtypes success and failure • Validation however is not a monad (despite some 6.x examples that show it as one...) • Validation is an applicative functor • If any failure in the chain, failure wins: All errors get mashed together
  20. val brendanCA = DBObject(4, Some(User("Brendan", "McAdams", Some(Address("Sunnyvale")))) ) val cthulhu

    = DBObject(5, Some(User("Cthulhu", "Old One", Some(Address("R'lyeh")))) ) val noSuchPerson = DBObject(6, None) val jonPretty = DBObject(7, Some(User("Jon", "Pretty", None)) )
  21. def validDBUser(dbObj: DBObject): Validation[String, User] = { dbObj.user match {

    case Some(user) => Success(user) case None => Failure(s"DBObject $dbObj does not contain a user object") } }
  22. validDBUser(brendanCA) /* Success[User] */ validDBUser(cthulhu) /* Success[User] */ validDBUser(noSuchPerson) /*

    Failure("... does not contain a user object") */ validDBUser(jonPretty) /* Success[User] */
  23. def validAddress(user: Option[User]): Validation[String, Address] = { user match {

    case Some(User(_, _, Some(address))) if postOfficeValid(address) => address.success case Some(User(_ , _, Some(address))) => "Invalid address: Not recognized by postal service".failure case Some(User(_, _, None)) => "User has no defined address".failure case None => "No such user".failure } }
  24. validAddress(brendanCA.user) /* Success(Address(Sunnyvale)) */ // let's assume R'Lyeh has no

    mail carrier validAddress(cthulhu.user) /* Failure(Invalid address: Not recognized by postal service) */ validAddress(noSuchPerson.user) /* Failure(No such user) */ validAddress(jonPretty.user) /* Failure(User has no defined address) */
  25. Sticking it all together • scalaz has a number of

    applicative operators to combine results • *> and <* are two of the ones you'll see first • *> takes the right hand value and discards the left • <* takes the left hand value and discards the right • Errors "win"
  26. 1.some *> 2.some /* res10: Option[Int] = Some(2) */ 1.some

    <* 2.some /* res11: Option[Int] = Some(1) */ 1.some <* None /* res13: Option[Int] = None */ None *> 2.some /* res14: Option[Int] = None */ • BUT: With Validation it will chain together all errors that occur instead of short circuiting
  27. validDBUser(brendanCA) *> validAddress(brendanCA.user) /* res16: scalaz.Validation[String,Address] = Success(Address(Sunnyvale)) */ validDBUser(cthulhu)

    *> validAddress(cthulhu.user) /* res17: scalaz.Validation[String,Address] = Failure(Invalid address: Not recognized by postal service) */ validDBUser(jonPretty) *> validAddress(jonPretty.user) //res19: scalaz.Validation[String,Address] = Failure(User has no defined address) */ validDBUser(noSuchPerson) *> validAddress(noSuchPerson.user) /* res18: scalaz.Validation[String,Address] = Failure(DBObject DBObject(6,None) does not contain a user objectNo such user) */ • Wait. WTF happened to that last one?!?
  28. validDBUser(brendanCA) *> validAddress(brendanCA.user) /* res16: scalaz.Validation[String,Address] = Success(Address(Sunnyvale)) */ validDBUser(cthulhu)

    *> validAddress(cthulhu.user) /* res17: scalaz.Validation[String,Address] = Failure(Invalid address: Not recognized by postal service) */ validDBUser(jonPretty) *> validAddress(jonPretty.user) //res19: scalaz.Validation[String,Address] = Failure(User has no defined address) */ validDBUser(noSuchPerson) *> validAddress(noSuchPerson.user) /* res18: scalaz.Validation[String,Address] = Failure(DBObject DBObject(6,None) does not contain a user objectNo such user) */ • The way *> is called on Validation, it appends all errors together... • We need another tool
  29. NonEmptyList • NonEmptyList is a scalaz List which is guaranteed

    to have at least one element • Commonly used with Validation to allow accrual of multiple error messages • So common, in fact, that there's a type alias for Validation[NonEmptyList[L], R] of ValidationNEL[L, R] • Append on an NEL will add each element separately.
  30. def validDBUserNel(dbObj: DBObject): Validation[NonEmptyList[String], User] = { dbObj.user match {

    case Some(user) => Success(user) case None => Failure(NonEmptyList(s"DBObject $dbObj does not contain a user object")) } } • We can be explicit, and construct a NonEmptyList (and declare it explicitly)
  31. def validAddressNel(user: Option[User]): ValidationNel[String, Address] = { user match {

    case Some(User(_, _, Some(address))) if postOfficeValid(address) => address.success case Some(User(_ , _, Some(address))) => "Invalid address: Not recognized by postal service".failureNel case Some(User(_, _, None)) => "User has no defined address".failureNel case None => "No such user".failureNel } } • Or we can use some helpful shortcuts and call .failureNel, and declare a ValidationNel return type.
  32. One Last Operator • scalaz provides the applicative operator |@|,

    for when we want to combine all of the failure and success conditions • To handle the successes, we provide a PartialFunction
  33. (validDBUserNel(brendanCA) |@| validAddressNel(brendanCA.user)) { case (user, address) => s"User ${user.first}

    ${user.last} lives in ${address.city}" } // "User Brendan McAdams lives in Sunnyvale" • The other users will return NEL of Errors like with *>
  34. One Last Function: Error Handling • Dealing sanely with errors

    is always a challenge • There are a few ways in the Scala world of avoiding the traditional try/catch, such as scala.util.Try • scalaz' \/ offers the Higher Order Function fromTryCatchThrowable, which catches any specified exception, and returns a Disjunction • You specify your return type, the type of exception to catch, and your function body...
  35. fromTryCatchThrowable "foo".toInt /* java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "foo" at java.lang.NumberFormatException.forInputString

    ... at java.lang.Integer.parseInt(Integer.java:492) at java.lang.Integer.parseInt(Integer.java:527) */
  36. fromTryCatchThrowable "foo".toInt /* java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "foo" at java.lang.NumberFormatException.forInputString

    ... at java.lang.Integer.parseInt(Integer.java:492) at java.lang.Integer.parseInt(Integer.java:527) */ • Here's a great function to wrap...
  37. fromTryCatchThrowable \/.fromTryCatchThrowable[Int, Exception] { "foo".toInt } /* res10: scalaz.\/[Exception,Int] =

    -\/(java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "foo") */ • Note the reversed order of args – Right type, then Left type
  38. fromTryCatchThrowable \/.fromTryCatchThrowable[Int, Exception] { "foo".toInt } /* res10: scalaz.\/[Exception,Int] =

    -\/(java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "foo") */ • We can also be less specific in our exception type to 'catch more'
  39. fromTryCatchThrowable \/.fromTryCatchThrowable[Int, IllegalArgumentException] { "foo".toInt } /* res13: scalaz.\/[IllegalArgumentException,Int] =

    -\/(java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "foo") */ • Our passed exception type matters: if a thrown exception doesn't match, it will still be thrown.
  40. Catching "more" \/.fromTryCatchNonFatal[Int] { "foo".toInt } /* res14: scalaz.\/[Throwable,Int] =

    -\/(java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "foo") */ • There's also \/.tryCatchNonFatal which will catch anything classified as scala.util.control.NonFatal
  41. Final Thought: On Naming • From the skeptical side, the

    common use of symbols gets... interesting • Agreeing on names, at least within your own team, is important • Although it is defined in Either.scala, calling \/ "Either" gets confusing vs. Scala's Either • Here's a few of the names I've heard used in the community for |@| (There's also a unicode alias of ⊛)