lua oop how to call superclass constructor - oop

I need helps on writing OOP on LUA. I am following this tutorial. However, I have no idea on how to call superclass constructor.
-- Base class
setmetatable(BaseClass, {
__call = function (cls, ...)
local self = setmetatable({}, cls)
self._value = '12345'
return self
end,
})
-- Derived Class
setmetatable(DerivedClass, {
__index = BaseClass, -- this is what makes the inheritance work
__call = function (cls, ...)
local self = ???
-- How to call superclass constructor here?
return self
end,
})
function DerivedClass:haha()
print(self._value)
self._value = 0 -- Works on _value for example
print(self._value)
end
-- Create instance
instance = DerivedClass()
assert_not_nil(instance._value) -- instance._value always nil here...
instance:haha() -- print 12345 and print 0
I have tried following
local self = setmetatable({}, BaseClass) or local self = setmetatable({}, BaseClass())
None of them works.
Furthermore, what is the arguments cls refer to on __call if I execute code DerivedClass() ?
Thanks

Related

Lua class getting overwritten

So, I have this lua class (really a metatable) that is getting overwritten by one of it's children. Here is the code that makes the class:
--// Class
local Lexer = {
Text = "",
Pos = nil,
CC = nil
}
--// Initializer
function Lexer.new(Text, Fn)
-- Set metatable
self = setmetatable({}, Lexer)
-- Set variables
self.Text = Text
self.Pos = POS.new(0, 0, 0, Fn, Text)
self.CC = nil
self:Advance()
-- Return
return self
end
And here is the code for the POS module, which I am including:
--// Make the module
local Position = {
Idx = 0,
Line = 0,
Col = 0,
Fn = "",
Ftxt = ""
}
--// Constructor
function Position.new(Idx, Line, Col, Fn, Ftxt)
-- Set metatable
self = setmetatable({}, Position)
-- Set variables
self.Idx = Idx
self.Line = Line
self.Col = Col
self.Fn = Fn
self.Ftxt = Ftxt
-- Return self
return self
end
I have a .__index method in both of them. Help is appreciated!
Oh, and, POS is defined like:
local POS = require("lib/position")
self is not defined and therefore you use the global self as a variable. Since you call the constructor of Pos while initializing Lexer it will cause errors. Prefix both self with local.
self is only automatically defined if using the : syntax, e.g. Lexer:new() and function Lexer:new(Text, Fn).

Lua inheritance and methods

How to inherit a new class player from class actor and make method actor:new(x, y, s) called in method player:new(x, y, s) with the same parameters. I need to make player:new the same but with additional parameters so the player can have more properties than actor.
Is there a way to do this not only in new method, but in other methods, like player:move(x, y) will call actor:move(x, y) or self:move(x, y) but with additional code?
I use this pattern to make classes in modules:
local actor = {}
function actor:new(x, y, s)
self.__index = self
return setmetatable({
posx = x,
posy = y,
sprite = s
}, self)
end
-- methods
return actor
A good way to do this is to have a separate function that initializes your instance. Then you can simply call the base classes initialization within the inherited class.
Like in this example: http://lua-users.org/wiki/ObjectOrientationTutorial
function CreateClass(...)
-- "cls" is the new class
local cls, bases = {}, {...}
-- copy base class contents into the new class
for i, base in ipairs(bases) do
for k, v in pairs(base) do
cls[k] = v
end
end
-- set the class's __index, and start filling an "is_a" table that contains this class and all of its bases
-- so you can do an "instance of" check using my_instance.is_a[MyClass]
cls.__index, cls.is_a = cls, {[cls] = true}
for i, base in ipairs(bases) do
for c in pairs(base.is_a) do
cls.is_a[c] = true
end
cls.is_a[base] = true
end
-- the class's __call metamethod
setmetatable(cls, {__call = function (c, ...)
local instance = setmetatable({}, c)
-- run the init method if it's there
local init = instance._init
if init then init(instance, ...) end
return instance
end})
-- return the new class table, that's ready to fill with methods
return cls
end
You would simply do:
actor = CreateClass()
function actor:_init(x,y,s)
self.posx = x
self.posy = y
self.sprite = s
end
player = CreateClass(actor)
function player:_init(x,y,s,name)
actor.init(self, x,y,s)
self.name = name or "John Doe"
end

Lua - trying to create a good Vec2 class

I'm learning how to use Lua and Love2d and I want to create a Vec2 class using metamethods and metatables. This is what I have so far:
class.lua: (The base class files)
local Class = {}
Class.__index = Class
-- Constructor
function Class:new() end
-- Inherite from Class
-- type = The name of the new class
function Class:derive(type)
print("Class:", self)
local cls = {}
cls["__call"] = Class.__call
cls.type = type
cls.__index = cls
cls.super = self
setmetatable(cls, self)
return cls
end
function Class:__call(...)
local inst = setmetatable({}, self)
inst:new(...)
return inst
end
function Class:getType()
return self.type
end
return Class
vec2.lua
local class = require "class"
local Vec2 = class:derive("Vec2")
function Vec2:new(x, y)
self.x = x or 0
self.y = y or 0
getmetatable(self).__add = Vec2.add
end
function Vec2.add(a, b)
local nx, ny
nx = a.x + b.x
ny = a.y + b.y
return Vec2:new(nx, ny)
end
return Vec2
and in my main.lua I have:
local v1 = Vec2:new(10, 10)
local v2 = Vec2:new(5, 3)
local v3 = v1 + v2
print("v3:", v3.x, v3.y)
and I get this error:
Error: main.lua:12: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'v1' (a nil
value)
Vec2.new does not return a value. Hence the assignment local v1 = Vec2:new(10,10) results in v1 being nil
Try local v1 = Vec2(10,10) instead. Same mistake in Vec2.add
The instance is created in the __call metamethod which calls new with your parameters. You're not supposed to call new directly unless you want to re-initialize an existing instance.
function Class:__call(...)
local inst = setmetatable({}, self)
inst:new(...)
return inst
end

Why can't I use builtin for classes that overload subsref?

I would like to overload only one type of subsref calls (the '()' type) for a particular class and leave any other calls to Matlab's built in subsref -- specifically, I want Matlab to handle property/method access via the '.' type. But, it seems like Matlab's 'builtin' function doesn't work when subsref is overloaded in a class.
Consider this class:
classdef TestBuiltIn
properties
testprop = 'This is the built in method';
end
methods
function v = subsref(this, s)
disp('This is the overloaded method');
end
end
end
To use the overloaded subsref method, I do this:
t = TestBuiltIn;
t.testprop
>> This is the overloaded method
That's as expected. But now I want to call Matlab's built in subsref method. To make sure I'm doing things right, first I try out a similar call on a struct:
x.testprop = 'Accessed correctly';
s.type = '.';
s.subs = 'testprop';
builtin('subsref', x, s)
>> Accessed correctly
That's as expected as well. But, when I try the same method on TestBuiltIn:
builtin('subsref', t, s)
>> This is the overloaded method
...Matlab calls the overloaded method rather than the built in method. Why does Matlab call the overloaded method when I requested that it call the builtin method?
UPDATE:
In response to #Andrew Janke's answer, that solution almost works but doesn't quite. Consider this class:
classdef TestIndexing
properties
prop1
child
end
methods
function this = TestIndexing(n)
if nargin==0
n = 1;
end
this.prop1 = n;
if n<2
this.child = TestIndexing(n+1);
else
this.child = ['child on instance ' num2str(n)];
end
end
function v = subsref(this, s)
if strcmp(s(1).type, '()')
v = 'overloaded method';
else
v = builtin('subsref', this, s);
end
end
end
end
All of this works:
t = TestIndexing;
t(1)
>> overloaded method
t.prop1
>> 1
t.child
>> [TestIndexing instance]
t.child.prop1
>> 2
But this doesn't work; it uses the built in subsref for the child rather than the overloaded subsref:
t.child(1)
>> [TestIndexing instance]
Note that the above behavior is inconsistent with both of these behaviors (which are as expected):
tc = t.child;
tc(1)
>> overloaded method
x.child = t.child;
x.child(1)
>> overloaded method
It's possible, IIRC. To change () but not {} and '.', write your subsref method to pass those other cases along to the builtin subsref from within your overloaded subsref, instead of trying to explicitly call the builtin from outside.
function B = subsref(A, S)
% Handle the first indexing on your obj itself
switch S(1).type
case '()'
B = % ... do your custom "()" behavior ...
otherwise
% Enable normal "." and "{}" behavior
B = builtin('subsref', A, S(1))
end
end
% Handle "chaining" (not sure this part is fully correct; it is tricky)
orig_B = B; % hold on to a copy for debugging purposes
if numel(S) > 1
B = subsref(B, S(2:end)); % regular call, not "builtin", to support overrides
end
end
(And if that builtin call doesn't work, you can just put in cases that use . and {} directly, because the subsref overload is ignored inside the class definition.)
To make it fully functional, you may need to change B to a varargout, and add chaining behavior in to the "()" case.
To expand on the explanation given on the Mathworks board, builtin only works from within an overloaded method to access the pre-existing (built in) method.
Overloading a method in Matlab effectively shadows the built in implementation from everything except the method doing the shadowing, and the method doing the shadowing must use builtin to access the built in implementation instead of recursing into itself.
In general. You should use builtin(m,s) inside the function that is been overloaded. This is specified clearly in MATLAB documentation.
http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/builtin.html
builtin(function,x1,...,xn) executes the built-in function with the
input arguments x1 through xn. Use builtin to execute the original
built-in from within a method that overloads the function. To work
properly, you must never overload builtin.
Consider this code:
classdef TestBuiltIn
properties
testprop = 'This is the built in method';
testprop2 = 'This is the derived subsref ';
end
methods
function v = subsref(m, s)
disp('enter subsref no matter how!');
v = builtin('subsref',m, s);
end
end
end
and test command
clear;
t = TestBuiltIn;
builtin('subsref', t, s)
s.type = '.';
s.subs = 'testprop';
s2 = s;
s2.subs = 'testprop2';
>> builtin('subsref', t, s1)
enter subsref no matter how!
ans =
This is the derived subsref
>> builtin('subsref', t, s)
enter subsref no matter how!
ans =
This is the built in method
In your updated version of this problem, when you call t.child(1), the subsref function will receive argument s with s(1).type='.', s(1).subs='child' and s(2).type='()', s(2).subs='1'. The evaluation of this expression is not in a step-by-step manner, as Andrew Janke mentioned in his answer. As a result, when overriding subsref, you should handle this operation chain, by first processing the '.' operator. Here is a incomplete example for your case,
function v = subsref(this, s)
switch s(1).type
case '.'
member = s(1).subs;
if ismethod(this, member)
% invoke builtin function to access method member
% there is issue about the number of output arguments
v = builtin('subsref',this,s);
elseif isprop(this, member) % property
if length(s) == 1
% invoke builtin function to access method member
v = builtin('subsref', this, s);
elseif length(s) == 2 && strcmp(s(2).type,'()')
% this is where you evaluate 'tc.child(1)'
else
% add other cases when you need, otherwise calling builtin
end
else
% handling error.
end
case '()'
% this is where you evaluate 't(1)'
% you may need to handle something like 't(1).prop1', like the '.' case
otherwise
% by default, calling the builtin.
end
end
You can also find a detailed code sample and instruction at Code Patterns for subsref and subsasgn Methods.
One more thing you may need to know, is that method members in this class will also be invoked through subsref with '.' operation. Look at this subject subsref on classes: how to dispatch methods?, you will find that the builtin function has no return value (since the invoked method has no return value). However, the return value of builtin is assigned to v(even though v is replaced by varargout), which is an obvious error. The author also gives a temporary solution by using try ... catch to resolve this error.

Matlab: Convert superclass to subclass object

I want to create a subclass, ess say, to the built-in ss class. I'd like to be able to convert an existing ss object to an ess object and at the same time add the missing properties, e.g. w, by something like this
sys=ss(a,b,c,d);
esys=ess(sys,w);
but I can't figure out how to setup the constructor correctly. What is the best way to achieve this? My code currently looks like this
classdef ess < ss
properties
w
end
methods
function obj = ess(varargin)
if nargin>0 && isa(varargin{1},'StateSpaceModel')
super_args{1} = sys;
else
super_args = varargin;
end
obj = obj#ss(super_args{:});
end
end
end
But this does not work as I get the following error:
>> ess(ss(a,b,c,d))
??? When constructing an instance of class 'ess', the constructor must preserve
the class of the returned object.
Of course I could copy all the object properties by hand but it seems to me that there should be some better way.
Here is an example of what I had in mind:
classdef ss < handle
properties
a
b
end
methods
function obj = ss(varargin)
args = {0 0}; %# default values
if nargin > 0, args = varargin; end
obj.a = args{1};
obj.b = args{2};
end
end
end
and:
classdef ess < ss
properties
c
end
methods
function obj = ess(c, varargin)
args = {};
if nargin>1 && isa(varargin{1}, 'ss')
args = getProps(varargin{1});
end
obj#ss(args{:}); %# call base-class constructor
obj.c = c;
end
end
end
%# private function that extracts object properties
function props = getProps(ssObj)
props{1} = ssObj.a;
props{2} = ssObj.b;
end
Lets test those classes:
x = ss(1,2);
xx = ess(3,x)
I get:
xx =
ess handle
Properties:
c: 3
a: 1
b: 2
Methods, Events, Superclasses