I have a small question in my mind. I researched it on the Internet but no-one is providing the exact answer. My question is:
In data flow coverage criteria, say there is a method which finally returns variable x. When drawing the graph for that method, is that return statement considered to be a use of x?
Yes, a return statement uses the value that it returns. I couldn't find an authoritative reference that says so in plain English either, but here are two arguments:
A return statement passes control from one part of a program to another, just like a method call does. The value being returned is analogous to a function parameter. return therefore is a use just like being a function parameter is a use.
The other kind of use in data flow analysis is when a value leaves the program and has some effect on the outside world, for example by being printed. If we're analyzing a method, rather than an entire program, return causes the value to leave the scope which we're analyzing. So it's a use for the same reason that printing is a use.
Related
Are idempotent and deterministic functions both just functions that return the same result given the same inputs?
Or is there a distinction that I'm missing?
(And if there is a distinction, could you please help me understand what it is)
In more simple terms:
Pure deterministic function: The output is based entirely, and only, on the input values and nothing else: there is no other (hidden) input or state that it relies on to generate its output. There are no side-effects or other output.
Impure deterministic function: As with a deterministic function that is a pure function: the output is based entirely, and only, on the input values and nothing else: there is no other (hidden) input or state that it relies on to generate its output - however there is other output (side-effects).
Idempotency: The practical definition is that you can safely call the same function multiple times without fear of negative side-effects. More formally: there are no changes of state between subsequent identical calls.
Idempotency does not imply determinacy (as a function can alter state on the first call while being idempotent on subsequent calls), but all pure deterministic functions are inherently idempotent (as there is no internal state to persist between calls). Impure deterministic functions are not necessarily idempotent.
Pure deterministic
Impure deterministic
Pure Nondeterministic
Impure Nondeterministic
Idempotent
Input
Only parameter arguments (incl. this)
Only parameter arguments (incl. this)
Parameter arguments and hidden state
Parameter arguments and hidden state
Any
Output
Only return value
Return value or side-effects
Only return value
Return value or side-effects
Any
Side-effects
None
Yes
None
Yes
After 1st call: Maybe.After 2nd call: None
SQL Example
UCASE
CREATE TABLE
GETDATE
DROP TABLE
C# Example
String.IndexOf
DateTime.Now
Directory.Create(String)Footnote1
Footnote1 - Directory.Create(String) is idempotent because if the directory already exists it doesn't raise an error, instead it returns a new DirectoryInfo instance pointing to the specified extant filesystem directory (instead of creating the filesystem directory first and then returning a new DirectoryInfo instance pointing to it) - this is just like how Win32's CreateFile can be used to open an existing file.
A temporary note on non-scalar parameters, this, and mutating input arguments:
(I'm currently unsure how instance methods in OOP languages (with their hidden this parameter) can be categorized as pure/impure or deterministic or not - especially when it comes to mutating the the target of this - so I've asked the experts in CS.SE to help me come to an answer - once I've got a satisfactory answer there I'll update this answer).
A note on Exceptions
Many (most?) programming languages today treat thrown exceptions as either a separate "kind" of return (i.e. "return to nearest catch") or as an explicit side-effect (often due to how that language's runtime works). However, as far as this answer is concerned, a given function's ability to throw an exception does not alter its pure/impure/deterministic/non-deterministic label - ditto idempotency (in fact: throwing is often how idempotency is implemented in the first place e.g. a function can avoid causing any side-effects simply by throwing right-before it makes those state changes - but alternatively it could simply return too.).
So, for our CS-theoretical purposes, if a given function can throw an exception then you can consider the exception as simply part of that function's output. What does matter is if the exception is thrown deterministically or not, and if (e.g. List<T>.get(int index) deterministically throws if index < 0).
Note that things are very different for functions that catch exceptions, however.
Determinacy of Pure Functions
For example, in SQL UCASE(val), or in C#/.NET String.IndexOf are both deterministic because the output depends only on the input. Note that in instance methods (such as IndexOf) the instance object (i.e. the hidden this parameter) counts as input, even though it's "hidden":
"foo".IndexOf("o") == 1 // first cal
"foo".IndexOf("o") == 1 // second call
// the third call will also be == 1
Whereas in SQL NOW() or in C#/.NET DateTime.UtcNow is not deterministic because the output changes even though the input remains the same (note that property getters in .NET are equivalent to a method that accepts no parameters besides the implicit this parameter):
DateTime.UtcNow == 2016-10-27 18:10:01 // first call
DateTime.UtcNow == 2016-10-27 18:10:02 // second call
Idempotency
A good example in .NET is the Dispose() method: See Should IDisposable.Dispose() implementations be idempotent?
a Dispose method should be callable multiple times without throwing an exception.
So if a parent component X makes an initial call to foo.Dispose() then it will invoke the disposal operation and X can now consider foo to be disposed. Execution/control then passes to another component Y which also then tries to dispose of foo, after Y calls foo.Dispose() it too can expect foo to be disposed (which it is), even though X already disposed it. This means Y does not need to check to see if foo is already disposed, saving the developer time - and also eliminating bugs where calling Dispose a second time might throw an exception, for example.
Another (general) example is in REST: the RFC for HTTP1.1 states that GET, HEAD, PUT, and DELETE are idempotent, but POST is not ( https://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec9.html )
Methods can also have the property of "idempotence" in that (aside from error or expiration issues) the side-effects of N > 0 identical requests is the same as for a single request. The methods GET, HEAD, PUT and DELETE share this property. Also, the methods OPTIONS and TRACE SHOULD NOT have side effects, and so are inherently idempotent.
So if you use DELETE then:
Client->Server: DELETE /foo/bar
// `foo/bar` is now deleted
Server->Client: 200 OK
Client->Server DELETE /foo/bar
// foo/bar` is already deleted, so there's nothing to do, but inform the client that foo/bar doesn't exist
Server->Client: 404 Not Found
// the client asks again:
Client->Server: DELETE /foo/bar
// foo/bar` is already deleted, so there's nothing to do, but inform the client that foo/bar doesn't exist
Server->Client: 404 Not Found
So you see in the above example that DELETE is idempotent in that the state of the server did not change between the last two DELETE requests, but it is not deterministic because the server returned 200 for the first request but 404 for the second request.
A deterministic function is just a function in the mathematical sense. Given the same input, you always get the same output. On the other hand, an idempotent function is a function which satisfies the identity
f(f(x)) = f(x)
As a simple example. If UCase() is a function that converts a string to an upper case string, then clearly UCase(Ucase(s)) = UCase(s).
Idempotent functions are a subset of all functions.
A deterministic function will return the same result for the same inputs, regardless of how many times you call it.
An idempotent function may NOT return the same result (it will return the result in the same form but the value could be different, see http example below). It only guarantees that it will have no side effects. In other words it will not change anything.
For example, the GET verb is meant to be idempotent in HTTP protocol. If you call "~/employees/1" it will return the info for employee with ID of 1 in a specific format. It should never change anything but simply return the employee information. If you call it 10, 100 or so times, the returned format will always be the same. However, by no means can it be deterministic. Maybe if you call it the second time, the employee info has changed or perhaps the employee no longer even exists. But never should it have side effects or return the result in a different format.
My Opinion
Idempotent is a weird word but knowing the origin can be very helpful, idem meaning same and potent meaning power. In other words it means having the same power which clearly doesn't mean no side effects so not sure where that comes from. A classic example of There are only two hard things in computer science, cache invalidation and naming things. Why couldn't they just use read-only? Oh wait, they wanted to sound extra smart, perhaps? Perhaps like cyclomatic complexity?
I have a function in another class file that gets information about the battery. In a form I have the following code:
If BatteryClass.getStatus_Battery_Charging = True Then
It appears Visual Studio accepts this. However, would it be better if I used the following code, which also works:
dim val as boolean = BatteryClass.getStatus_Battery_Charging
If val = True Then
Is there a difference between these two methods?
What you're asking in general is which approach is idiomatic.
The technical rule is not to invoke a method multiple times - unless you're specifically checking a volatile value for change - when its result can be preserved in a locally scoped variable. That's not what your asking but its important to understand that multiple calls should typically be bound to a variable.
That being said its better to produce less lines of code from a maintenance perspective as long as doing so improves the readability of your code. If you do have to declare a locally scoped variable to hold the return value of a method make sure to give the variable a meaningful name.
Prefer this [idiomatic VB.NET] one liner:
If BatteryClass.getStatus_Battery_Charging Then
over this:
Dim isBatteryCharging As Boolean = BatteryClass.getStatus_Battery_Charging
If isBatteryCharging Then
Another point you should concern yourself with are methods, which when invoked, create a side effect that affects the state of your program. In most circumstances it is undesirable to have a side effect causing method invoked multiple times - when possible rewrite such side affecting methods so that they do not cause any side effects. To limit the number of times a side effect will occur use the same local variable scoping rule instead of performing multiple invocations of the method.
No real difference.
The second is better if you need the value again of course. It's also marginally easier to debug when you have a value stored in a variable.
Personally I tend to use the first because I'm an old school C programmer at heart!
I've made a large program that opens and closes files and databases, perform writes and reads on them etc among other things. Since there no such thing as "exception handling in go", and since I didn't really know about "defer" statement and "recover()" function, I applied error checking after every file-open, read-write, database entry etc. E.g.
_,insert_err := stmt.Run(query)
if insert_err != nil{
mylogs.Error(insert_err.Error())
return db_updation_status
}
For this, I define db_updation_status at the beginning as "false" and do not make it "true" until everything in the program goes right.
I've done this in every function, after every operation which I believe could go wrong.
Do you think there's a better way to do this using defer-panic-recover? I read about these here http://golang.org/doc/articles/defer_panic_recover.html, but can't clearly get how to use them. Do these constructs offer something similar to exception-handling? Am I better off without these constructs?
I would really appreciate if someone could explain this to me in a simple language, and/or provide a use case for these constructs and compare them to the type of error handling I've used above.
It's more handy to return error values - they can carry more information (advantage to the client/user) than a two valued bool.
What concerns panic/recover: There are scenarios where their use is completely sane. For example, in a hand written recursive descent parser, it's quite a PITA to "bubble" up an error condition through all the invocation levels. In this example, it's a welcome simplification if there's a deferred recover at the top most (API) level and one can report any kind of error at any invocation level using, for example
panic(fmt.Errorf("Cannot %v in %v", foo, bar))
If an operation can fail and returns an error, than checking this error immediately and handling it properly is idiomatic in go, simple and nice to check if anything gets handled properly.
Don't use defer/recover for such things: Needed cleanup actions are hard to code, especially if stuff gets nested.
The usual way to report an error to a caller is to return an error as an extra return value. The canonical Read method is a well-known instance; it returns a byte count and an error.
But what if the error is unrecoverable? Sometimes the program simply cannot continue.
For this purpose, there is a built-in function panic that in effect creates a run-time error that will stop the program (but see the next section). The function takes a single argument of arbitrary type—often a string—to be printed as the program dies. It's also a way to indicate that something impossible has happened, such as exiting an infinite loop.
http://golang.org/doc/effective_go.html#errors
I'm currently working on my first major project in clojure and have run into a question regarding coding style and the most "clojure-esque" way of doing something. Basically I have a function I'm writing which takes in a data structure and a template that the function will try to massage the data structure into. The template structure will look something like this:
{
:key1 (:string (:opt :param))
:key2 (:int (:opt :param))
:key3 (:obj (:tpl :template-structure))
:key4 (:list (:tpl :template-structure))
}
Each key is an atom that will be searched for in the given data structure, and it's value will be attempted to be matched to the type given in the template structure. So it would look for :key1 and check that it's a string, for instance. The return value would be a map that has :key1 pointing to the value from the given data structure (the function could potentially change the value depending on the options given).
In the case of :obj it takes in another template structure, and recursively calls itself on that value and the template structure, and places the result from that in the return. However, if there's an error I want that error returned directly.
Similarly for lists I want it to basically do a map of the function again, except in the case of an error which I want returned directly.
My question is what is the best way to handle these errors? Some simple exception handling would be the easiest way, but I feel that it's not the most functional way. I could try and babysit the errors all the way up the chain with tons of if statements, but that also doesn't seem very sporting. Is there something simple I'm missing or is this just an ugly problem?
You might be interested in schematic, which does pretty similar stuff. You can see how it's used in the tests, and the implementation.
Basically I defined an error function, which returns nil for correctly-formatted data, or a string describing the error. Doing it with exceptions instead would make the plumbing easier, but would make it harder to get the detailed error messages like "[person: [first_name: expected string, got integer]]".
I have a problem with the sequence model seen in the diagram below, specifically where the System object is creating a new Number. In this case, there is no need for a return message since the function SaveInput(n), both in System and Number, is the end of the line for that portion of the program, but unless I include one, the modeller reshaped my diagram into the other one I've uploaded here, and I can't see how to arrange the messages so that my program will work the way I intend without including the return message (the one without a name) from Number to System, since the functions SaveInput() both return a void.
How should void-returning functions be handled in sequence diagrams so that they behave correctly? I have opened the message properties and explicitly defined it as returning a void, but that hasn't helped.
When A calls operation b in B, the "return" arrow from B to A indicates the end of the operation b has finished its execution. This doesn´t mean that as part of the return message you have to return a value, it only means that the execution is done and you can continue with the next messages. Visually, most tools also use these return messages to manage the life bar of the object.