folio

folio
the Bard Runtime Library

  * Introduction
  * Loading
  * AS
  * Boxes
  * Functions
  * Collections

Introduction
------------

folio is a set of modules that make some functional programming idioms
more convenient for use in Common Lisp. The folio modules are portions
of the runtime from the new Lisp dialect Bard, packaged for convenient
use as Common Lisp libraries. As Bard's runtime matures, additional
portions may be added as folio modules.

Loading
-------

folio assumes that it's being used with Zach Beane's Quicklisp. To
load folio, after Quicklisp is installed, eval the following
expression:

  (ql:quickload "folio")

folio also relies on Scott L. Burson's FSet library, which is also
distributed by Quicklisp. Loading folio should also load FSet
automatically. If for any reason you should need to load FSet
manually, eval the expression:

  (ql:quickload "fset")

AS
--

The AS module provides a single generic function designed as a
convenient, extensible utility for converting from one type to
another. Following are a few examples of AS in use:

CL-USER> (as 'list #(0 1 2 3 4))
(0 1 2 3 4)

CL-USER> (as 'string '(#\H #\e #\l #\l #\o))
"Hello"

The AS package exports a single name, "AS", in order to make it easy
to use the package. AS names a generic function of two arguments; the
first argment is the name of a target type; the second argument is a
value to be converted.

Type names are conventionally the names of Common Lisp classes, but
don't have to be. You can use EQL specializers to name conversions,
and the target type names don't necessarily have to be the names of
CLOS classes. For example, folio provides methods for converting from
FSet's MAP type to both alists and plists:

CL-USER> (setq $fmap (fset:map (:a 1) (:b 2) (:c 3)))
#{| (:A 1) (:B 2) (:C 3) |}

CL-USER> (as 'map:alist $fmap)
((:A . 1) (:B . 2) (:C . 3))

CL-USER> (as 'map:plist $fmap)
(:A 1 :B 2 :C 3)

Neither ALIST nor PLIST is the name of a CLOS class. Rather, each is
the name of different a way of interpreting an instance of LIST as a
map. folio specializes AS on each name to provide a method for
converting to that use of lists.

Boxes
-----

Boxes are very simple objects that contain references to other
values. A box is a settable wrapper around a value. The primary
utility of a box is to provide a settable place in a functional data
structure.

For example, FSet's weight-balanced trees provide very efficient
functional representations of searchable data structures like
sequences and maps. They provide a good balance of efficiency in
search, insertion, deletion, subsets, concatenation, and so on.

FSet's data structures are functional, which means that you normally
can't destructively modify them. This is mostly an advantage, but
there are some circumstances in which you may want to take advantage
of FSet's strengths, and still be able to destructively update a value
at a particular spot in a data structure. For such uses, boxes are
handy.

CL-USER> (setf $box (box:make nil))
#<FOLIO.BOXES:BOX 200C295F>

CL-USER> (box:get $box)
NIL

CL-USER> (box:put 1001 $box)
1001

CL-USER> (box:get $box)
1001

Although there is presently no provision for thread-safe update of
boxes, it's my intention to implement a mechanism to provide atomic
updates of boxes at some point in the future.

Functions
---------

Folio provides a small set of function-handling utilities, in order to
make some functional idioms more convenient.

The FUN package exports a small set of functions that accept
functions as inputs and return functions as outputs. Such functions
are known, in the parlance of functional programming, as
"combinators".

The purpose of combinators is to arrange existing functions into more
convenient forms. For example, you could conveniently create a
sequence of folio boxes like this:

  (mapcar (fun:partial #'make-instance 'box:box :value)
          '(0 1 2 3 4 5))

PARTIAL constructs a function from MAKE-INSTANCE; the constructed
function has already accepted the arguments 'BOX:BOX and :VALUE. When
applied to each of the numbers in the argument list, it applies
MAKE-INSTANCE to BOX, :VALUE and that number:

The FN package exports three macros that are simply abbreviations for
Common Lisp forms whose names are little bukly if you're writing a lot
of functional code.

  FN is an abbreviation for LAMBDA

  ^ is also an abbreviation for LAMBDA

  $ is an abbreviation for FUNCALL

The names were not chosen completely arbitrarily: FN is the name used
for LAMBDA in Clojure; ^ is the name for LAMBDA originally proposed by
Haskell Curry, and replaced by LAMBDA because of a typographical
accident; $ is the name that Haskell uses for APPLY.

The intention is not to replace all uses of LAMBDA and FUNCALL, but
when writing functional code, with many references to anonymous
functions, the numerous repetitions of LAMBDA and FUNCALL can make
expressions bulky and reduce their readability. The purpose of the
macros in the FN package is to provide a way to reduce that clutter
and improve readability in functional code. Use them when they make
code easier to read; avoid them when they don't.

Collections
-----------

The folio Collections module provides a common API for sets,
sequences, and maps that works across Common Lisp's lists, vectors,
and strings, and also across FSet's sets, sequences, and maps. Its
goal is to provide an API for these collections that is the same
regardless of which representation you choose.

The folio Collections module extends AS to convert among various
representations of sets, sequences, and maps. It also provides
optional literal syntax for sequences and maps, which can be
convenient for using them in some code.

The number of possible conversions and uses is large; it seems I'm
always finding new combinations that are useful. Over time, it's
reasonable to expect that folio's collections will include more and
more conversion methods and utilities for specifying representations
of sets, sequences, and maps.



folio

Upstream URL

License

folio

Dependencies:

folio.as

Dependencies:

folio.boxes

Dependencies:

folio.collections

Dependencies:

folio.functions

Dependencies:

Dependencies (1)

Dependents (0)