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First-Class Commands, the 2017 Edition
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Reg Braithwaite
June 15, 2017
Technology
250
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First-Class Commands, the 2017 Edition
NDC Oslo June 15, 2017
Reg Braithwaite
June 15, 2017
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Transcript
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 1
First-Class Commands an unexpectedly fertile design pa!ern © 2017 Reginald
Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 2
why do we care about commands? © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite.
Some rights reserved. 3
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 4
the canonical example: mutable data © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some
rights reserved. 5
class Buffer { constructor (text = '') { this.text =
text; } replaceWith (replacement, from = 0, to = this.text.length) { this.text = this.text.slice(0, from) + replacement + this.text.slice(to); return this; } toString () { return this.text; } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 6
let buffer = new Buffer(); buffer.replaceWith( "The quick brown fox
jumped over the lazy dog" ); buffer.replaceWith("fast", 4, 9); buffer.replaceWith("canine", 40, 43); //=> The fast brown fox jumped over the lazy canine © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 7
buffer is an object © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights
reserved. 8
we treat objects as first-class entities © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite.
Some rights reserved. 9
replaceWith is a method © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights
reserved. 10
we can treat methods as first- class entities © 2017
Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 11
buffer.replaceWith("fast", 4, 9) is an invocation © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite.
Some rights reserved. 12
what does it mean to treat an invocation as a
first-class entity? © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 13
storing invocations © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 14
class Edit { constructor (buffer, {replacement, from, to}) { this.buffer
= buffer; Object.assign(this, {replacement, from, to}); } doIt () { this.buffer.text = this.buffer.text.slice(0, this.from) + this.replacement + this.buffer.text.slice(this.to); return this.buffer; } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 15
class Buffer { constructor (text = '') { this.text =
text; } replaceWith (replacement, from = 0, to = this.text.length) { return new Edit(this, {replacement, from, to}); } toString () { return this.text; } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 16
let buffer = new Buffer(), jobQueue = []; jobQueue.push( buffer.replaceWith(
"The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" ) ); jobQueue.push( buffer.replaceWith("fast", 4, 9) ); jobQueue.push( buffer.replaceWith("canine", 40, 43) ); while (jobQueue.length > 0) { jobQueue.shift().doIt(); } //=> The fast brown fox jumped over the lazy canine © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 17
job queues © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 18
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 19
querying invocations © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 20
class Edit { netChange () { return this.from - this.to
+ this.replacement.length; } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 21
let buffer = new Buffer(); buffer.replaceWith( "The quick brown fox
jumped over the lazy dog" ).netChange(); //=> 44 buffer.replaceWith("fast", 4, 9).netChange(); //=> -1 © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 22
command state © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 23
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 24
command history © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 25
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 26
transforming invocations © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 27
class Edit { reversed () { let replacement = this.buffer.text.slice(this.from,
this.to), from = this.from, to = from + this.replacement.length; return new Edit(buffer, {replacement, from, to}); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 28
let buffer = new Buffer( "The quick brown fox jumped
over the lazy dog" ); let doer = buffer.replaceWith("fast", 4, 9), undoer = doer.reversed(); doer.doIt(); //=> The fast brown fox jumped over the lazy dog undoer.doIt(); //=> The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 29
all together now © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved.
30
class Buffer { constructor (text = '') { this.text =
text; this.history = []; this.future = []; } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 31
class Buffer { replaceWith (replacement, from = 0, to =
this.length()) { let doer = new Edit(this, {replacement, from, to}), undoer = doer.reversed(); this.history.push(undoer); this.future = []; return doer.doIt(); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 32
undo © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 33
class Buffer { undo () { let undoer = this.history.pop(),
redoer = undoer.reversed(); this.future.unshift(redoer); return undoer.doIt(); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 34
let buffer = new Buffer( "The quick brown fox jumped
over the lazy dog" ); buffer.replaceWith("fast", 4, 9) //=> The fast brown fox jumped over the lazy dog buffer.replaceWith("canine", 40, 43) //=> The fast brown fox jumped over the lazy canine © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 35
buffer.undo() //=> The fast brown fox jumped over the lazy
dog buffer.undo() //=> The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 36
redo © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 37
class Buffer { redo () { let redoer = this.future.shift(),
undoer = redoer.reversed(); this.history.push(undoer); return redoer.doIt(); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 38
buffer.redo() //=> The fast brown fox jumped over the lazy
dog buffer.redo() //=> The fast brown fox jumped over the lazy canine © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 39
that's the basic command pa!ern © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some
rights reserved. 40
invocations as first-class entities: we stored them; we queried them;
we transformed them. © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 41
question! © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 42
class Buffer { replaceWith (replacement, from = 0, to =
this.length()) { let doer = new Edit(this, {replacement, from, to}), undoer = doer.reversed(); this.history.push(undoer); this.future = []; return doer.doIt(); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 43
why do we have to throw the future away? ©
2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 44
class Buffer { replaceWith (replacement, from = 0, to =
this.length()) { let doer = new Edit(this, {replacement, from, to}), undoer = doer.reversed(); this.history.push(undoer); // this.future = []; return doer.doIt(); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 45
let buffer = new Buffer( "The quick brown fox jumped
over the lazy dog" ); buffer.replaceWith("fast", 4, 9); //=> The fast brown fox jumped over the lazy dog buffer.undo(); //=> The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog buffer.replaceWith("My", 0, 3); //=> My quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 46
what happens when we evaluate buffer.redo()? © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite.
Some rights reserved. 47
"My qfastbrown fox jumped over the lazy dog" © 2017
Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 48
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 49
let's consider commands as a history © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite.
Some rights reserved. 50
let buffer = new Buffer("The quick brown fox jumped over
the lazy dog"); "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" // PAST // FUTURE © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 51
buffer.replaceWith("fast", 4, 9) "The fast brown fox jumped over the
lazy dog" // PAST replaceWith("fast", 4, 9) // FUTURE © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 52
buffer.undo() "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog"
// PAST // FUTURE replaceWith("fast", 4, 9) © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 53
buffer.replaceWith("My", 0, 3) "My quick brown fox jumped over the
lazy dog" // PAST replaceWith("My", 0, 3) // FUTURE replaceWith("fast", 4, 9) © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 54
buffer.redo() "My qfastbrown fox jumped over the lazy dog" //
PAST replaceWith("My", 0, 3) replaceWith("fast", 4, 9) // FUTURE © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 55
every command depends on the history of commands preceding it
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 56
prepending a command into its history alters the command ©
2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 57
let buffer = new Buffer( "The quick brown fox jumped
over the lazy dog" ); let fast = new Edit( buffer, { replacement: "fast", from: 4, to: 9 } ); let my = new Edit( buffer, { replacement: "My", from: 0, to: 3 } ); © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 58
let buffer = new Buffer( "The quick brown fox jumped
over the lazy dog" ); let fast = new Edit( buffer, { replacement: "fast", from: 4, to: 9 } ); let my = new Edit( buffer, { replacement: "My", from: 0, to: 3 } ); © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 59
class Edit { isBefore (other) { return other.from >= this.to;
} } fast.isBefore(my); //=> false my.isBefore(fast); //=> true © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 60
class Edit { prependedWith (other) { if (this.isBefore(other)) { return
this; } else if (other.isBefore(this)) { let change = other.netChange(), {replacement, from, to} = this; from = from + change; to = to + change; return new Edit(this.buffer, {replacement, from, to}) } } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 61
my.prependedWith(fast) //=> buffer.replaceWith("My", 0, 3) fast.prependedWith(my) //=> buffer.replaceWith("fast", 3, 8)
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 62
my.prependedWith(fast) //=> buffer.replaceWith("My", 0, 3) fast.prependedWith(my) //=> buffer.replaceWith("fast", 3, 8)
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 63
class Buffer { replaceWith (replacement, from = 0, to =
this.length()) { let doer = new Edit(this, {replacement, from, to}), undoer = doer.reversed(); this.history.push(undoer); this.future = this.future.map( (edit) => edit.prependedWith(doer) ); return doer.doIt(); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 64
let's start over © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved.
65
let buffer = new Buffer( "The quick brown fox jumped
over the lazy dog" ); buffer.replaceWith("fast", 4, 9); //=> The fast brown fox jumped over the lazy dog buffer.undo(); //=> The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog buffer.replaceWith("My", 0, 3); //=> My quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog buffer.redo(); © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 66
"My fast brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" ©
2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 67
what did fixing redo teach us about invocations as first-
class entities? © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 68
"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause
to effect, but actually from a non- linear, non-subjective viewpoint— it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly… time-y wimey… stuff." © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 69
reversed() and prependedWith() show us we can change both the
direction and order of time. © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 70
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 71
let alice = new Buffer( "The quick brown fox jumped
over the lazy dog" ); let bob = new Buffer( "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" ); © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 72
for simplicity, we'll omit undo , redo and reversed class
Buffer { constructor (text = '') { this.text = text; this.history = []; } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 73
class Buffer { replaceWith (replacement, from = 0, to =
this.length()) { let edit = new Edit(this, {replacement, from, to} ); this.history.push(edit); return edit.doIt(); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 74
alice.replaceWith("My", 0, 3); //=> My quick brown fox jumped over
the lazy dog bob.replaceWith("fast", 4, 9); //=> The fast brown fox jumped over the lazy dog © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 75
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 76
class Buffer { append (theirEdit) { this.history.forEach( (myEdit) => {
theirEdit = theirEdit.prependedWith(myEdit); }); return new Edit(this, theirEdit).doIt(); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 77
class Buffer { appendAll(otherBuffer) { otherBuffer.history.forEach( (theirEdit) => this.append(theirEdit) );
return this; } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 78
alice.appendAll(bob); //=> My fast brown fox jumped over the lazy
dog bob.appendAll(alice); //=> My fast brown fox jumped over the lazy dog © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 79
! © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 80
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 81
let GUID = () => ??? class Buffer { constructor
(text = '', history = []) { let befores = new Set(history.map(e => e.guid)); history = history.slice(0); Object.assign(this, {text, history, befores}); } share () { return new Buffer(this.text, this.history); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 82
class Edit { constructor (buffer, { guid = GUID(), befores
= new Set(), replacement, from, to }) { this.buffer = buffer; befores = new Set(befores); Object.assign(this, {guid, replacement, from, to, befores}); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 83
class Buffer { has (edit) { return this.befores.has(edit.guid); } perform
(edit) { if (!this.has(edit)) { this.history.push(edit); this.befores.add(edit.guid); return edit.doIt(); } } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 84
class Buffer { replaceWith (replacement, from = 0, to =
this.length()) { let befores = this.befores, let edit = new Edit(this, {replacement, from, to, befores} ); return this.perform(edit); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 85
class Buffer { append (theirEdit) { this.history.forEach( (myEdit) => {
theirEdit = theirEdit.prependedWith(myEdit); }); return this.perform(new Edit(this, theirEdit)); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 86
class Buffer { appendAll(otherBuffer) { otherBuffer.history.forEach( (theirEdit) => this.has(theirEdit) ||
this.append(theirEdit) ); return this; } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 87
class Edit { prependedWith (other) { if (this.isBefore(other) || this.befores.has(other.guid)
|| this.guid === other.guid) return this; let change = other.netChange(), {guid, replacement, from, to, befores} = this; from = from + change; to = to + change; befores = new Set(befores); befores.add(other.guid); return new Edit(this.buffer, {guid, replacement, from, to, befores}); } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 88
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 89
let alice = new Buffer( "The quick brown fox jumped
over the lazy dog" ); let bob = alice.share(); //=> The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog alice.replaceWith("My", 0, 3); //=> My quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 90
let carol = alice.share(); //=> My quick brown fox jumped
over the lazy dog bob.replaceWith("fast", 4, 9); //=> The fast brown fox jumped over the lazy dog alice.appendAll(bob); //=> My fast brown fox jumped over the lazy dog © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 91
bob.appendAll(alice); //=> My fast brown fox jumped over the lazy
dog alice.replaceWith("spotted", 8, 13); //=> My fast spotted fox jumped over the lazy dog bob.appendAll(alice); //=> My fast spotted fox jumped over the lazy dog carol.appendAll(bob); //=> My fast spotted fox jumped over the lazy dog © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 92
"Unfortunately, implementing OT sucks. There's a million algorithms with different
tradeoffs, mostly trapped in academic papers. The algorithms are really hard and time consuming to implement correctly." © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 93
perhaps we should borrow a trick from react, and periodically
scan a "shadow buffer" for diffs that we exchange with collaborators… © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 94
differential synchronization © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 95
how does differential synchronization differ from the command pa!ern? ©
2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 96
this is a very big problem space © 2017 Reginald
Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 97
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 98
class Buffer { replaceWith () { ... } share ()
{ ... } append () { ... } appendAll () { ... } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 99
class Branch { commit () { ... } fork ()
{ ... } cherryPick () { ... } merge () { ... } } © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 100
distributed version control © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved.
101
with invocations as first-class entities, we can build distributed algorithms
and protocols; we can master time and change © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 102
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 103
© 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 104
down, tiger! © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 105
separation of concerns © 2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved.
106
Reg Braithwaite PagerDuty, Inc. h!ps://speakerdeck.com/raganwald/ first-class-commands-an- unexpectedly-fertile-design-pa!ern raganwald.com @raganwald ©
2017 Reginald Braithwaite. Some rights reserved. 107