Problems passing arguments with callNextMethod() in R - oop

My question:
Why is callNextMethod() not passing arguments as expected to the next method?
Situation:
Say I have two hierarchical classes foo and bar (bar is subclass of foo) for which I have a method foobar that can dispatch for both classes (i.e., has methods for both classes).
Furthermore, the method for the (sub)class bar calls the method for foo after some calculations with callNextMethod().
Both methods have the same additional argument (with default) that should be passed to the method for foo, where only it is relevant.
setClass("foo", representation(x = "numeric"))
setClass("bar", contains = "foo")
setGeneric("foobar", function(object, ...) standardGeneric("foobar"))
setMethod("foobar", "foo", function(object, another.argument = FALSE, ...) {
print(paste("in foo-method:", another.argument))
if (another.argument) object#x^3
else object#x^2
})
setMethod("foobar", "bar", function(object, another.argument = FALSE, ...) {
print(paste("in bar-method:", another.argument))
object#x <- sqrt(object#x)
callNextMethod()
})
Problem description:
The arguments are not passed as expected, but the default values are taken from the method definition. Specifically, in the first method the argument is as specified in the call (TRUE), however, it changes to FALSE in the next method.
o1 <- new("bar", x = 4)
foobar(o1, another.argument = TRUE)
gives
[1] "in bar-method: TRUE"
[1] "in foo-method: FALSE"
[1] 4
I want the another.argument to be passed to the next method so that it is TRUE in the call to the foo method, too.
From ?callNextMethod I get that it should work as expected (i.e., the named argument is passed as it is in the call):
For a formal argument, say x, that appears in the original call, there
is a corresponding argument in the next method call equivalent to x =
x. In effect, this means that the next method sees the same actual
arguments, but arguments are evaluated only once.
My second question: How can I pass another.argument to the next method. (I would really like to keep default arguments in both methods)

I think this has to do with the way a method with a signature different from the generic is defined (within a function .local)
> selectMethod(foobar, "bar")
Method Definition:
function (object, ...)
{
.local <- function (object, another.argument = FALSE, ...)
{
print(paste("in bar-method:", another.argument))
object#x <- sqrt(object#x)
callNextMethod()
}
.local(object, ...)
}
Signatures:
object
target "bar"
defined "bar"
The work-around is to either define the generic and methods to have the same signature
setGeneric("foobar",
function(object, another.argument=FALSE, ...) standardGeneric("foobar"),
signature="object")
or pass the arguments explicitly to callNextMethod
setMethod("foobar", "bar", function(object, another.argument = FALSE, ...) {
print(paste("in bar-method:", another.argument))
object#x <- sqrt(object#x)
callNextMethod(object, another.argument, ...)
})

Related

Understanding a lambda construct that contains dot followed by brackets

This is the function declaration for rememberCoilPainter:
#Composable
fun rememberCoilPainter(
request: Any?,
imageLoader: ImageLoader = CoilPainterDefaults.defaultImageLoader(),
shouldRefetchOnSizeChange: ShouldRefetchOnSizeChange = ShouldRefetchOnSizeChange { _, _ -> false },
requestBuilder: (ImageRequest.Builder.(size: IntSize) -> ImageRequest.Builder)? = null,
fadeIn: Boolean = false,
fadeInDurationMs: Int = LoadPainterDefaults.FadeInTransitionDuration,
#DrawableRes previewPlaceholder: Int = 0,
): LoadPainter<Any> {
}
The line of code I am having difficulty understanding is:
requestBuilder: (ImageRequest.Builder.(size: IntSize) -> ImageRequest.Builder)? = null
A dot appears after Builder followed by (size: IntSize)
This is the first time I've seen this construct in Kotlin and am not sure how to interpret it. This is a lambda. Normally the dot after an object refers to a sub component of a class or a package. But the ( ) after the dot isn't clear.
How do I implement the requestBuilder parameter?
This is a function with receiver type as described here: https://kotlinlang.org/docs/lambdas.html#function-types
Function types can optionally have an additional receiver type, which is specified before a dot in the notation: the type A.(B) -> C represents functions that can be called on a receiver object of A with a parameter of B and return a value of C. Function literals with receiver are often used along with these types.
It could be tricky to understand at first, but this is like you are providing a function/lambda that is a method of ImageRequest.Builder. Or in other words: your lambda receives one additional parameter of type ImageRequest.Builder and it is available in the lambda as this.
You can provide requestBuilder as any other lambda, but note that inside it you will have access to properties and methods of ImageRequest.Builder object that was provided to you.
What you are looking at is a "function literal with receiver". Speaking generically, a type A.(B) -> C represents a function that can be called on a receiver object of A with a parameter of B and return a value of C. Or in your example:
requestBuilder: (ImageRequest.Builder.(size: IntSize) -> ImageRequest.Builder)?
We have a function requestBuilder which can be called on a ImageRequest.Builder with a parameter size: IntSize and returns another ImageRequest.Builder.
Calling this function is just like calling any other function with a lambda as a parameter. The difference: You have access to ImageRequest.Builder as this inside your lambda block.
Hope the following example helps understand lambdas with receiver type:
data class Person(val name: String)
fun getPrefixSafely(
prefixLength: Int,
person: Person?,
getPrefix: Person.(Int) -> String): String
{
if (person?.name?.length ?: 0 < prefixLength) return ""
return person?.getPrefix(prefixLength).orEmpty()
}
// Here is how getPrefixSafely can be called
getPrefixSafely(
prefixLength = 2,
person = Person("name"),
getPrefix = { x -> this.name.take(x) }
)
How do I implement the requestBuilder parameter?
Hope this part of the code snippet answers the above:
getPrefix = { x -> this.name.take(x) }
PS: These lambdas with receiver types are similar to extension functions IMO.

How can I test if a method is defined in a Perl 6 class?

I often want to test that I've defined a method in a particular class. This has caught many problems where I've renamed a method or otherwise rearranged things in the architecture.
I know I can use .^lookup but that still feels weird to me like I'm eventually going to run into a case where it returns things in a different order than I expect (ignore signatures for now). This is what I came up with:
use Test;
class Foo is Str {}
class Bar is Str { method Str { 'Hello' } }
can-ok Str, 'Str';
can-ok Foo, 'Str';
can-ok Bar, 'Str';
is Foo.^lookup( 'Str' ).package.^name, 'Foo', 'Foo defines Str';
is Bar.^lookup( 'Str' ).package.^name, 'Bar', 'Bar defines Str';
done-testing;
It does what I want in this simple case and I haven't made it fail so far:
ok 1 - The type 'Str' can do the method 'Str'
ok 2 - The type 'Foo' can do the method 'Str'
ok 3 - The type 'Bar' can do the method 'Str'
not ok 4 -
ok 5 -
1..5
# Failed test at /Users/brian/Desktop/hello.p6 line 12
# expected: 'Foo'
# got: 'Mu'
# Looks like you failed 1 test of 5
You should not be comparing types by name.
my \Foo = anon class Foo {}
my \Bar = anon class Foo {}
say Foo.^name eq Bar.^name; # True
say Foo eqv Bar; # False
In fact is checks for object identity if you give it a type object as the second argument.
is Bar.^lookup( 'Str' ).package, Bar, 'Bar defines Str'
You could always add a subroutine to add clarity.
sub defines-method (
Mu:U $class,
Str:D $method,
Str:D $desc = "$class.^name() defines $method"
) {
is $class.^lookup( $method ).?package, $class, $desc
}
defines-method Foo, 'Str';
You could alias it to an operator
sub &infix:<defines-method> = &defines-method;
Bar defines-method 'Str';
(Note that I used .?package in case .^lookup doesn't return anything.)
.^lookup gives you the Method object that will be called; so I don't know why you are talking about it giving you them in a different order when there is only one value returned. If there are multi methods it returns the proto method (possibly implicitly created).
If you want the individual multi methods you would call .candidates on it.
(There is also .^find_method, and off the top of my head I don't remember the difference)
I believe you are thinking of .can which gives you the Method objects in the order they would be called if you used .*Str or .+Str, which is the same as the method resolution order. Which means it would only change if you change the inheritance tree.
> class Bar is Str { method Str { 'Hello' } }
> quietly .perl.say for Bar.+Str;
"Hello"
""
""
> .perl.say for Bar.new.+Str
"Hello"
""
"Bar<80122504>"
> quietly .(Bar).perl.say for Bar.can('Str')
"Hello"
""
""
> .(Bar.new).perl.say for Bar.can('Str')
"Hello"
""
"Bar<86744200>"

Kotlin methods with Vararg as First Parameter

Note I've looked at the following questions/answers to solve the problem without any luck. Call Java Varargs Method from Kotlin - this one has the varargs parmeter at the end of the parameter list, but my question deals with varargs at the start of the parameters list. Kotlin: Convert List to Java Varargs - the same. Other searches yield the same thing. These were the closest I could find.
I am calling the Kotlin String.split method with a single character delimiter.
This is a vararg method where the vararg parameter is first of multiple parameters. The method is defined like so:
public fun CharSequence.split(vararg delimiters: Char,
ignoreCase: Boolean = false,
limit: Int = 0): List<String>
When I call the method as below, it compiles fine:
fun String.splitRuleSymbol() : String = this.split(':') //ok
But when I try to add the ignoreCase and limit parameters, I get a problem:
fun String.splitRuleSymbol() : String = this.split(':', true, 2) //compiler error
The error I get is...
None of the following functions can be called with the arguments supplied:
public fun CharSequence.split(vararg delimiters: String, ignoreCase: Boolean = ..., limit: Int = ...): List defined in kotlin.text
public fun CharSequence.split(vararg delimiters: Char, ignoreCase: Boolean = ..., limit: Int = ...): List defined in kotlin.text
To me, having a vararg parameter followed by other parameters is somewhat odd, but that's beside the point. If I call it as below, it works fine:
// both of the following compile
fun String.splitRuleSymbol() : String =
this.split(delimiters = ':', ignoreCase = true, limit = 2)
fun String.splitRuleSymbol2() : String =
this.split(';', ignoreCase = true, limit = 2)
Is there a way to pass a vararg Char in to this method without having to qualify my other two parameters with parameter names ignoreCase and limit? Can the compiler not tell that the remaining parameters are not Char?
I have tried the spread operator and a few other ways below , none of which work:
//compiler errors on all these
this.split(*':', true, 2) //using the "spread" operator
this.split(*charArrayOf(':'), true, 2)
this.split(*mutableListOf(':'), true, 2)
this.split(*Array<Char>(1) { ':' }, true, 2)
Yes, some of these look ridiculous, I know. But, is there no way to avoid the verbose alternative?
PS As I was formulating my question, I found another expression that compiled.
this.split(':', limit = 2)
This is less verbose and since I don't need to change the default ignoreCase parameter, it's closer to what I am looking for.
Your observations are correct. Arguments that are after a vararg parameter can only ever be passed in by using named arguments, otherwise you'd run into ambiguity issues (for a trivial example, let's say when all arguments are of type Any).
The best source I can find for this right now is this book.
The vararg parameter is usually the last parameter, but it does not always have to be. If there are other parameters after vararg, then arguments must be passed in using named parameters
Edit: #Les found a good source on it, see their answer.
Thanks to zsmb13, I was able to find the following paragraph in the Kotlin Specification (under "Functions and Lambdas")
Only one parameter may be marked as vararg . If a vararg parameter is
not the last one in the list, values for the following parameters can
be passed using the named argument syntax, or, if the parameter has a
function type, by passing a lambda outside parentheses.
I would venture to add that "can be passed" should be changed to "must be passed" since the compiler won't allow otherwise.
Note The lambda part is interesting in that the spec normally only allows a lambda to be moved outside the parenthesis when it is the last parameter. The wording of the spec implies the lambda could be anywhere after the vararg parameter, but experimentation shows that it cannont, i.e., it must be the last parameter in order to be eligible to move outside of the parenthesis.
fun main(args: Array<String>) {
test("hello", limit = 1, ic = false, delims = ';') { } //ok
//test2("world", limit = 1, ic = false, delims = ';') { } //error
test2("world", f = {}, limit = 1, ic = false, delims = ';') //ok
test("hello world", ';', limit = 1, ic = false) {} //ok
}
fun test(vararg delims: Char, ic: Boolean, limit: Int, f: () -> Unit) {}
fun test2(vararg delims: Char, f: () -> Unit, ic: Boolean, limit: Int) {}
Variable number of arguments (vararg) can be passed in the named form by using the spread operator:
fun foo(vararg strings: String) { /* ... */ }
foo(strings = *arrayOf("a", "b", "c"))
foo(strings = "a") // Not required for a single value
Note that the named argument syntax cannot be used when calling Java functions, because Java bytecode does not always preserve names of function parameters.

Is it possible to init a variable in the while condition body for Kotlin?

In the code below:
var verticesCount: Int // to read a vertices count for graph
// Reading until we get a valid vertices count.
while (!Assertions.checkEnoughVertices(
verticesCount = consoleReader.readInt(null, Localization.getLocStr("type_int_vertices_count"))))
// The case when we don't have enough vertices.
println(String.format(Localization.getLocStr("no_enough_vertices_in_graph"),
Assertions.CONFIG_MIN_VERTICES_COUNT))
val resultGraph = Graph(verticesCount)
we are getting next error on the last line:
Error:(31, 33) Kotlin: Variable 'verticesCount' must be initialized
Assertions.checkEnoughVertices accepts a safe type variable as an argument (verticesCount: Int), so it's impossible for verticesCount to be uninitialized or null here (and we're getting no corresponding errors on those lines).
What's going on on the last line when already initialized variable becomes uninitialized again?
The syntax you've used denotes a function call with named arguments, not the assignment of a local variable. So verticesCount = is just an explanation to the reader that the value which is being passed here to checkEnoughVertices corresponds to the parameter of that function named verticesCount. It has nothing to do with the local variable named verticesCount declared just above, so the compiler thinks you've still to initialize that variable.
In Kotlin, the assignment to a variable (a = b) is not an expression, so it cannot be used as a value in other expressions. You have to split the assignment and the while-loop condition to achieve what you want. I'd do this with an infinite loop + a condition inside:
var verticesCount: Int
while (true) {
verticesCount = consoleReader.readInt(...)
if (Assertions.checkEnoughVertices(verticesCount)) break
...
}
val resultGraph = Graph(verticesCount)
Well, technically it is possible to assign values to variables in the while condition - and anything else you might want to do there, too.
The magic comes from the also function:
Try this: (excuse the completely useless thing this is doing...)
var i = 10
var doubleI: Int
while ((i * 2).also { doubleI = it } > 0) {
i--
println(doubleI)
}
Any expression can be "extended" with "something to do" by calling also which takes the expression it is called upon as the it parameter and executes the given block. The value also returns is identical to its caller value.
Here's a very good article to explain this and much more: https://medium.com/#elye.project/mastering-kotlin-standard-functions-run-with-let-also-and-apply-9cd334b0ef84

Customize 'at' with extra parameters for the closure?

Is it possible to specify some optional parameter(s) to the 'at' closure on the page like this:
class ManagerDashboardClientsPage extends Page {
static at = { year, geo ->
if (year) {
GebUtil.selectedYear == year
}
title.endsWith('Dashboard: Clients')
}
}
so that I can write both
at ManagerDashboardClientsPage
and
at ManagerDashboardClientsPage(2013, 'North East')
Currently the first one breaks with
No signature of method: page.ManagerDashboardClientsPage$__clinit__closure1.doCall() is applicable for argument types: () values: []
Possible solutions: doCall(java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object), call(), call([Ljava.lang.Object;), call(java.lang.Object), call(java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object), equals(java.lang.Object)
groovy.lang.MissingMethodException: No signature of method: page.ManagerDashboardClientsPage$__clinit__closure1.doCall() is applicable for argument types: () values: []
Possible solutions: doCall(java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object), call(), call([Ljava.lang.Object;), call(java.lang.Object), call(java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object), equals(java.lang.Object)
at geb.Page.verifyThisPageAtOnly(Page.groovy:165)
at geb.Page.verifyAt(Page.groovy:133)
at geb.Browser.doAt(Browser.groovy:358)
at geb.Browser.at(Browser.groovy:289)
at geb.spock.GebSpec.methodMissing(GebSpec.groovy:51)
at spec.ManagerDashboardClientsSpec.login as CEO(ManagerDashboardClientsSpec.groovy:16)
In Groovy you can set default values for optional closure parameters, like so:
static at = { year=null, geo=null ->
...
}
I think that'll clear ya up. :)
update
Ok, I know you don't need it anymore, but I made this for my own use when I was learning Groovy, and I thought someone might find it helpful:
{ -> ... } a closure with exactly zero parameters. Groovy will blow up if you call it with params.
{ ... } a closure with one optional parameter, named "it"
{ foo -> ... } a closure with one parameter named "foo" (foo can be any type)
{ foo, bar, baz -> ... } a closure with 3 parameters named "foo", "bar" and "baz"
{ String foo -> ... } You can specify the type of the parameters if you like