[Rd] PROTECT and OCaml GC.
Simon Urbanek
simon.urbanek at r-project.org
Mon Nov 30 18:46:05 CET 2009
On Nov 30, 2009, at 12:08 , Guillaume Yziquel wrote:
> Simon Urbanek a écrit :
>> You're talking about two entirely different things -- bypassing the
>> API is a very bad idea, but it has nothing to do with your last
>> paragraph.
>
> It's very good to hear that it's two different things. This has been
> quite unclear to me.
>
>> The API gives you access all user-visible aspects of R which is all
>> you really need for any embedding -- that includes closure body,
>> evaluation etc. I see no reason why you should ever go lower than
>> the API
>
> Because I've been unable to find what exactly applyClosure or eval
> requires, when it comes to the structure of the argument LANGSXP.
> For example.
>
LANGSXP is simply a pairlist representing the expression, e.g. to look
at "a+2" expression:
> .Internal(inspect(quote(a+2)))
@1183698 06 LANGSXP g0c0 []
@101080c 01 SYMSXP g0c0 [MARK,gp=0x4000] "+"
@1130394 01 SYMSXP g0c0 [MARK] "a"
@1c384e8 14 REALSXP g0c1 [] (len=1, tl=0) 2
I would suggest you learn more about R first - this is all accessible
at the R/S language level:
> x
a + 2
> x[[1]]
`+`
> x[[2]]
a
> x[[3]]
[1] 2
>> since that is unreliable and unsupported and thus you won't get any
>> help with that (that is IMHO the main reason why you get no
>> responses here - and I wouldn't expect any). All other functions
>> are hidden on purpose since they cover internal aspects that should
>> not be relied upon.
>
> Please let me be clear on my intentions:
>
> -1- I intend to use only the API if possible.
>
> -2- If not possible, I will perhaps use #define USE_RINTERNALS,
> which as I understand is not part of the API.
>
> -3- The libR.so with opened symbols is intended only as a
> replacement of GDB during development. Unfortunately, as things are
> not going as easily as it could, I am, for gdb-like purposes,
> writing progressively a new eval / applyClosure duo in OCaml.
>
> The option -3- will not appear in the interface I will release.
>
> In order to discriminate between option -1- and options -1- + -2-,
> could you please answer the following question, which I hope falls
> in the scope of legitimate questions on this mailing list:
>
> Suppose I have an OCaml (or pure C if you wish) linked list of OCaml
> value wrapping SEXP values. Is it possible, using only the API, to
> create a LANGSXP / LISTSXP list out of these SEXPs?
>
Of course - see CONS/LCONS.
> I guess this is the crucial point where I hit the limits of the API.
> Please confirm or infirm.
>
>> So again, I just think you're operating on the wrong level here --
>> and this has nothing to do with the fact that you're binding to a
>> functional language since the mechanisms are the same regardless of
>> the languages (that's why Omegahat was used to bind into any random
>> language that seemed useful).
>
> Will look into Omegahat. Not yet very familiar with R userland.
>
>> You get more headaches since you have to decide how to handle
>> closures both ways, but I suspect the practical solution is to use
>> evaluators on the side where the function is defined (especially
>> for the R side since it includes non-S-language code so you simply
>> cannot map it).
>
> Ok. So suppose I have wrapped an anonymous R closure, called op.
>
> This closure takes two arguments, a string, and yields a float.
>
> I therefore need to write a function "eval_this_op" whose type would
> be:
>
> eval_this_op : (string -> int) R.t -> string R.t -> int R.t
>
> Essentially, eval_this_op takes three arguments, a wrapped anonymous
> R closure, an R string, and yields an R integer.
>
> How could you write such an eval_this_op function without first
> solving the crucial issue in the above paragraph, which is basically
> constructing a LANGSXP out of an anonymous closure and an R string?
>
>> If you have suggestions for extending the API, feel free to post
>> them with exact explanations how in general that extensions could
>> be useful (general is the key word here - I think so far it was
>> rather to hack around your way of implementing it). [And FWIW
>> tryEval *is* part of the API].
>
> Please take into account that OCaml's type system is extremely
> strong. "My way of implementing it", as you call it, is essentially
> the most natural way to fit in the OCaml paradigm. I must satisfy
> both OCaml and R paradigms in order to write a correct binding.
>
> Please note that it is not an embedding in a random application. It
> aims to be a full blown binding for general purpose. In OCaml,
> values are immutable. Really, really, really immutable. Or they are
> signals, immutable abstractions describing a value that changes
> overtime. Symbols, variables and such are not welcome. References
> (~pointers) are statically typed and *cannot* be type casted. The
> type checking is so strong that you should almost never have to
> throw an exception. This means avoiding dynamic type-checking
> everywhere it's possible to avoid. This means that a function that
> takes a sexp to yield the underlying function should not have to
> raise an exception if the sexp is not a function. It should
> therefore not have to dynamically typecheck the sexp at runtime.
> This means that you have to enhance the type system to *statically*
> declare (or infer) that this sexp is a LANGSXP. Therefore you have
> to use a polymorphic type system (somehow ~ C++ templated types) to
> say "lang sxp" "list sxp" "sym sxp", etc... You get the idea?
>
> This is not "my way". It's the OCaml way: They like to statically
> type-check *everything* , including HTML. Please have a look at
> section "Static typing of XHTML with XHTML.M" of
>
> http://ocsigen.org/eliom/manual/1.2.0/1#p1baseprinciples
>
> Do you know why the Swig module for OCaml is virtually unused?
> Because the OCaml community does not consider it type-safe enough.
> And it will go somehow the same for Haskell.
>
> The "general" aspect of my request therefore concerns bindings to
> languages with 'inferred polymorphic static typing'. Please
> understand what these languages are about before dismissing my
> remarks as "my way". You may not care, you wouldn't be the first.
>
You're missing my point - "your way" was to hack into the internals of
how R represents SEXPs (going down to each pointer inside the SEXP
headers). None of the above applies to my remark.
Cheers,
Simon
> From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective_Caml
>
>> OCaml's static type system eliminates a large class of programmer
>> errors that may cause problems at runtime. However, it also forces
>> the programmer to conform to the constraints of the type system,
>> which can require careful thought and close attention. A type-
>> inferring compiler greatly reduces the need for manual type
>> annotations (for example, the data type of variables and the
>> signature of functions usually do not need to be explicitly
>> declared, as they do in Java). Nonetheless, effective use of
>> OCaml's type system can require some sophistication on the part of
>> the programmer.
>
> Please understand that I take no joy and no fun in being a pain.
>
> If you force me to write a binding that wouldn't be type safe, it
> would be unused. This is simply not acceptable to me: I am
> unfortunately not willing to waste my time. And will then eventually
> have to bypass the API. Please help me avoid that as much as it is
> possible with these constraints.
>
> --
> Guillaume Yziquel
> http://yziquel.homelinux.org/
>
>
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