Eliminating my explicit state passing via like, monads and stuff - f#

I'm working through the book Land of Lisp in F# (yeah weird, I know). For their first example text adventure, they make use of global variable mutation and I'd like to avoid it. My monad-fu is weak, so right now I'm doing ugly state passing like this:
let pickUp player thing (objects: Map<Location, Thing list>) =
let objs = objects.[player.Location]
let attempt = objs |> List.partition (fun o -> o.Name = thing)
match attempt with
| [], _ -> "You cannot get that.", player, objs
| thing :: _, things ->
let player' = { player with Objects = thing :: player.Objects }
let msg = sprintf "You are now carrying %s %s" thing.Article thing.Name
msg, player', things
let player = { Location = Room; Objects = [] }
let objects =
[Room, [{ Name = "whiskey"; Article = "some" }; { Name = "bucket"; Article = "a" }];
Garden, [{ Name = "chain"; Article = "a length of" }]]
|> Map.ofList
let msg, p', o' = pickUp player "bucket" objects
// etc.
How can I factor out the explicit state to make it prettier? (Assume I have access to a State monad type if it helps; I know there is sample code for it in F# out there.)

If you want to use the state monad to thread the player's inventory and world state through the pickUp function, here's one approach:
type State<'s,'a> = State of ('s -> 'a * 's)
type StateBuilder<'s>() =
member x.Return v : State<'s,_> = State(fun s -> v,s)
member x.Bind(State v, f) : State<'s,_> =
State(fun s ->
let (a,s) = v s
let (State v') = f a
v' s)
let withState<'s> = StateBuilder<'s>()
let getState = State(fun s -> s,s)
let putState v = State(fun _ -> (),v)
let runState (State f) init = f init
type Location = Room | Garden
type Thing = { Name : string; Article : string }
type Player = { Location : Location; Objects : Thing list }
let pickUp thing =
withState {
let! (player, objects:Map<_,_>) = getState
let objs = objects.[player.Location]
let attempt = objs |> List.partition (fun o -> o.Name = thing)
match attempt with
| [], _ ->
return "You cannot get that."
| thing :: _, things ->
let player' = { player with Objects = thing :: player.Objects }
let objects' = objects.Add(player.Location, things)
let msg = sprintf "You are now carrying %s %s" thing.Article thing.Name
do! putState (player', objects')
return msg
}
let player = { Location = Room; Objects = [] }
let objects =
[Room, [{ Name = "whiskey"; Article = "some" }; { Name = "bucket"; Article = "a" }]
Garden, [{ Name = "chain"; Article = "a length of" }]]
|> Map.ofList
let (msg, (player', objects')) =
(player, objects)
|> runState (pickUp "bucket")

If you want to use mutable state in F#, then the best way is just to write a mutable object. You can declare a mutable Player type like this:
type Player(initial:Location, objects:ResizeArray<Thing>) =
let mutable location = initial
member x.AddThing(obj) =
objects.Add(obj)
member x.Location
with get() = location
and set(v) = location <- v
Using monads to hide mutable state isn't as common in F#. Using monads gives you essentially the same imperative programming model. It hides the passing of state, but it doesn't change the programming model - there is some mutable state that makes it impossible to parallelize the program.
If the example uses mutation, then it is probably because it was designed in an imperative way. You can, change the program architecture to make it more functional. For example, instead of picking the item (and modifying the player), the pickUp function could just return some object representing a request to pick the item. The world would then have some engine that evaluates these requests (collected from all players) and calculates the new state of the world.

Related

how can I combine / compose computation expressions, in F#?

This is not for a practical need, but rather to try to learn something.
I am using FSToolKit's asyncResult expression which is very handy and I would like to know if there is a way to 'combine' expressions, such as async and result here, or does a custom expression have to be written?
Here is an example of my function to set the ip to a subdomain, with CloudFlare:
let setSubdomainToIpAsync zoneName url ip =
let decodeResult (r: CloudFlareResult<'a>) =
match r.Success with
| true -> Ok r.Result
| false -> Error r.Errors.[0].Message
let getZoneAsync (client: CloudFlareClient) =
asyncResult {
let! r = client.Zones.GetAsync()
let! d = decodeResult r
return!
match d |> Seq.filter (fun x -> x.Name = zoneName) |> Seq.toList with
| z::_ -> Ok z // take the first one
| _ -> Error $"zone '{zoneName}' not found"
}
let getRecordsAsync (client: CloudFlareClient) zoneId =
asyncResult {
let! r = client.Zones.DnsRecords.GetAsync(zoneId)
return! decodeResult r
}
let updateRecordAsync (client: CloudFlareClient) zoneId (records: DnsRecord seq) =
asyncResult {
return!
match records |> Seq.filter (fun x -> x.Name = url) |> Seq.toList with
| r::_ -> client.Zones.DnsRecords.UpdateAsync(zoneId, r.Id, ModifiedDnsRecord(Name = url, Content = ip, Type = DnsRecordType.A, Proxied = true))
| [] -> client.Zones.DnsRecords.AddAsync(zoneId, NewDnsRecord(Name = url, Content = ip, Proxied = true))
}
asyncResult {
use client = new CloudFlareClient(Credentials.CloudFlare.Email, Credentials.CloudFlare.Key)
let! zone = getZoneAsync client
let! records = getRecordsAsync client zone.Id
let! update = updateRecordAsync client zone.Id records
return! decodeResult update
}
It is interfacing with a C# lib that handles all the calls to the CloudFlare API and returns a CloudFlareResult object which has a success flag, a result and an error.
I remapped that type to a Result<'a, string> type:
let decodeResult (r: CloudFlareResult<'a>) =
match r.Success with
| true -> Ok r.Result
| false -> Error r.Errors.[0].Message
And I could write an expression for it (hypothetically since I've been using them but haven't written my own yet), but then I would be happy to have an asyncCloudFlareResult expression, or even an asyncCloudFlareResultOrResult expression, if that makes sense.
I am wondering if there is a mechanism to combine expressions together, the same way FSToolKit does (although I suspect it's just custom code there).
Again, this is a question to learn something, not about the practicality since it would probably add more code than it's worth.
Following Gus' comment, I realized it would be good to illustrate the point with some simpler code:
function DoA : int -> Async<AWSCallResult<int, string>>
function DoB : int -> Async<Result<int, string>>
AWSCallResultAndResult {
let! a = DoA 3
let! b = DoB a
return b
}
in this example I would end up with two types that can take an int and return an error string, but they are different. Both have their expressions so I can chain them as needed.
And the original question is about how these can be combined together.
It's possible to extend CEs with overloads.
The example below makes it possible to use the CustomResult type with a usual result builder.
open FsToolkit.ErrorHandling
type CustomResult<'T, 'TError> =
{ IsError: bool
Error: 'TError
Value: 'T }
type ResultBuilder with
member inline _.Source(result : CustomResult<'T, 'TError>) =
if result.IsError then
Error result.Error
else
Ok result.Value
let computeA () = Ok 42
let computeB () = Ok 23
let computeC () =
{ CustomResult.Error = "oops. This went wrong"
CustomResult.IsError = true
CustomResult.Value = 64 }
let computedResult =
result {
let! a = computeA ()
let! b = computeB ()
let! c = computeC ()
return a + b + c
}

How to update nested record structure with lists

Can someone tell me how I can update a subitem in a nested record?
I want to set isSelected to true for the Item with value = "B"
type MyItem = {isSelected:bool; value:string}
type MyModel = {list:MyItem list}
let a = {isSelected = false; value = "A"}
let b = {isSelected = false; value = "B"}
let c = {isSelected = false; value = "C"}
let m = {list = [a;b;c]}
let m2 = { m with list = { m.list with ??? = { ??? }}}
I will not use mutable data structures.
Immutability is great but when dealing with nested immutable structures it can get a bit hairy. Especially if it's deeply nested.
One way to deal with this is so called Lenses.
So I increased the nesting level of the example a bit so that the value of lenses are more visible.
module Lenses =
// This lens is a pair of function, a getter that get's inner value of an object
// and a setter that sets the inner value of an object
// The cool thing is that a lens is composable meaning we can create a lens
// that allows us to get and set a deeply nested property succinctly
type Lens<'O, 'I> = L of ('O -> 'I)*('I -> 'O -> 'O)
let lens (g : 'O -> 'I) (s : 'I -> 'O -> 'O) = L (g, s)
// Gets an inner value
let get (L (g, _)) o = g o
// Sets an inner value
let set (L (_, s)) i o = s i o
// Updates an inner value given an updater function that sees the
// inner value and returns a new value
let over (L (g, s)) u o = s (u (g o)) o
// Compose two lenses into one, allows for navigation into deeply nested structures
let compose (L (og, os)) (L (ig, is)) =
let g o = ig (og o)
let s i o = os (is i (og o)) o
L (g, s)
type Lens<'O, 'I> with
static member (-->) (o, i) = compose o i
open Lenses
// I made the model a bit more complex to show benefit of lenses
type MySelection =
{
isSelected: bool
}
// Define a lens that updates the property, this code can potentially be generated
// Scala does this with macros, in F# there are other possibilities
static member isSelectedL : Lens<MySelection, bool> = lens (fun o -> o.isSelected) (fun i o -> { o with isSelected = i })
type MyValue =
{
value: string
}
static member valueL : Lens<MyValue, string> = lens (fun o -> o.value) (fun i o -> { o with value = i })
type MyItem =
{
selection : MySelection
value : MyValue
}
static member selectionL : Lens<MyItem, MySelection> = lens (fun o -> o.selection) (fun i o -> { o with selection = i })
static member valueL : Lens<MyItem, MyValue> = lens (fun o -> o.value ) (fun i o -> { o with value = i })
type MyModel =
{
list: MyItem list
}
static member listL : Lens<MyModel, MyItem list> = lens (fun o -> o.list) (fun i o -> { o with list = i })
[<EntryPoint>]
let main argv =
// Define example model
let a = {selection = {isSelected = false}; value = {value = "A"}}
let b = {selection = {isSelected = false}; value = {value = "B"}}
let c = {selection = {isSelected = false}; value = {value = "C"}}
let m = {list = [a;b;c]}
// Print it
printfn "%A" m
// Update the model
let m2 =
let mapper (v : MyItem) =
// Grabs the nest value using lens composition
let nestedValue = v |> get (MyItem.valueL --> MyValue.valueL)
let isSelected = nestedValue = "B"
// Set the nested isSelected using lens composition
v |> set (MyItem.selectionL --> MySelection.isSelectedL) isSelected
// Maps nested list property
m |> over MyModel.listL (List.map mapper)
printfn "%A" m2
0
Use List.map:
let m2 =
{ m with list =
List.map (fun item ->
if item.value = "B" then
{ item with isSelected = true }
else
item)
m.list
}
This will create a new list where every item is the same as before, except the one we want to "update" because we replace that with a new item where isSelected is true.

How do access a value that belongs to a record from that record itself?

I am REALLY new to F#, so I might have used the wrong terminology here. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong, I would really appreciate it! Anyways, on to the question
I have a record that I have defined as so:
type EventSource = {
SourceName: string
Address: string
ParseDocument: HtmlDocument -> Event seq }
And I have created an instance of that record like so:
let lofSource = {
SourceName = "LOF"
Address = "https://lof.dk/syd/kurser"
ParseDocument = fun document ->
document.Descendants ["div"]
|> Seq.filter (fun d -> d.HasClass("item"))
|> Seq.map (
fun e ->
let linkElement
= e.Descendants (fun j -> j.HasClass "item-title")
|> Seq.head
|> (fun y -> y.Descendants ["a"])
|> Seq.map (fun fa -> fa.Attribute "href")
|> Seq.head
{
Title = e.AttributeValue "data-holdnavn"
Link = linkElement.Value()
Status = e.AttributeValue "data-status"
Image = Address //Here!
City = e.AttributeValue "data-bynavn"
Date = System.DateTime.ParseExact(e.AttributeValue("data-datosort"), "yyyyMMdd", null);
PostalCode = e.AttributeValue("data-postnr")})
}
On the line where I am trying to assign a value the Image member, It tells me that the value or constructor 'Address' is not defined.
I have tried using a self-identifier on the instantiation of the record and then trying to access Address like
this.Address
but it tells me that 'this' is not defined. I am guessing I am missing something quite fundamental here, can anyone help me? Is what I am trying to do nonsensical?
You can't do this with records. See: Reference a record from within itself during construction
You can do it with another binding (I couldn't get your code to compile and have simplified it):
type EventSource = {
SourceName: string
Address: string
ParseDocument: string -> string}
let lofSource =
let helloThere = "General Kenobi"
{
SourceName = "LOF"
Address = foo
ParseDocument = fun document ->
foo
}

How can I manage an exclusive state in F#?

I am not sure about "exclusive state management" thing in the title, I did my best making it up trying to put the problem concisely.
I am porting some of my C# code to F# trying to do it as idiomatic as I can. I have an entity that requests a number of ID's from a sequence in my database and then dispenses these ID to anyone in need. Once an id is given out it should no longer be available for anybody else. Hence there must be some sort of state associated with that entity that keeps track of the remaining number of IDs. Since using a mutable state is not idiomatic, what I can do is to write something like this:
let createIdManager =
let idToStartWith = 127
let allowed = 10
let givenOut = 0
(idToStartWith, allowed, givenOut)
-
let getNextAvailableId (idToStartWith, allowed, givenOut) =
if givenOut< allowed
then ((idToStartWith, allowed, givenOut+ 1), Some(idToStartWith + givenOut))
else ((idToStartWith, allowed, givenOut), None)
let (idManager, idOpt) = getNextAvailableId createIdManager()
match idOpt with
| Some(id) -> printf "Yay!"
| None -> reloadIdManager idManager |> getNextAvailableId
This approach is idiomatic (as far as I can tell) but extremely vulnerable. There are so many ways to get it messed up. My biggest concern is that once an id is advanced and a newer copy of id manager is made, there is no force that can stop you from using the older copy and get the same id again.
So how do I do exclusive state management, per se, in F#?
If you only need to initialize the set of ids once then you can simply hide a mutable reference to a list inside a local function scope, as in:
let nextId =
let idsRef = ref <| loadIdsFromDatabase()
fun () ->
match idsRef.Value with
| [] ->
None
| id::ids ->
idsRef := ids
Some id
let id1 = nextId ()
let id2 = nextId ()
You could use a state-monad(Computational Expression).
First we declare the state-monad
type State<'s,'a> = State of ('s -> 'a * 's)
type StateBuilder<'s>() =
member x.Return v : State<'s,_> = State(fun s -> v,s)
member x.Bind(State v, f) : State<'s,_> =
State(fun s ->
let (a,s) = v s
let (State v') = f a
v' s)
let withState<'s> = StateBuilder<'s>()
let runState (State f) init = f init
Then we define your 'IdManager' and a function to get the next available id as well as the new state after the execution of the function.
type IdManager = {
IdToStartWith : int
Allowed : int
GivenOut : int
}
let getNextId state =
if state.Allowed > state.GivenOut then
Some (state.IdToStartWith + state.GivenOut), { state with GivenOut = state.GivenOut + 1 }
else
None, state
Finally we define our logic that requests the ids and execute the state-monad.
let idStateProcess =
withState {
let! id1 = State(getNextId)
printfn "Got id %A" id1
let! id2 = State(getNextId)
printfn "Got id %A" id2
//...
return ()
}
let initState = { IdToStartWith = 127; Allowed = 10; GivenOut = 0 }
let (_, postState) =
runState
idStateProcess
initState //This should be loaded from database in your case
Output:
Got id Some 127
Got id Some 128

Updating nested immutable data structures

I want to update a nested, immutable data structure (I attached a small example of a hypothetical game.) And I wonder whether this can be done a little more elegantly.
Every time something inside the dungeon changes we need a new dungeon. So, I gave it a general update member. The best way to use this, that I could come up with for the general case, is to specify the processing functions for each nesting and than pass the combined function to the update member.
Then, for really common cases (like applying a map to all the monsters on a specific level), I provide extra members (Dungeon.MapMonstersOnLevel).
The whole thing works, I would just like to know, if anyone can think of better ways of doing it.
Thanks!
// types
type Monster(awake : bool) =
member this.Awake = awake
type Room(locked : bool, monsters : Monster list) =
member this.Locked = locked
member this.Monsters = monsters
type Level(illumination : int, rooms : Room list) =
member this.Illumination = illumination
member this.Rooms = rooms
type Dungeon(levels : Level list) =
member this.Levels = levels
member this.Update levelFunc =
new Dungeon(this.Levels |> levelFunc)
member this.MapMonstersOnLevel (f : Monster -> Monster) nLevel =
let monsterFunc = List.map f
let roomFunc = List.map (fun (room : Room) -> new Room(room.Locked, room.Monsters |> monsterFunc))
let levelFunc = List.mapi (fun i (level : Level) -> if i = nLevel then new Level(level.Illumination, level.Rooms |> roomFunc) else level)
new Dungeon(this.Levels |> levelFunc)
member this.Print() =
this.Levels
|> List.iteri (fun i e ->
printfn "Level %d: Illumination %d" i e.Illumination
e.Rooms |> List.iteri (fun i e ->
let state = if e.Locked then "locked" else "unlocked"
printfn " Room %d is %s" i state
e.Monsters |> List.iteri (fun i e ->
let state = if e.Awake then "awake" else "asleep"
printfn " Monster %d is %s" i state)))
// generate test dungeon
let m1 = new Monster(true)
let m2 = new Monster(false)
let m3 = new Monster(true)
let m4 = new Monster(false)
let m5 = new Monster(true)
let m6 = new Monster(false)
let m7 = new Monster(true)
let m8 = new Monster(false)
let r1 = new Room(true, [ m1; m2 ])
let r2 = new Room(false, [ m3; m4 ])
let r3 = new Room(true, [ m5; m6 ])
let r4 = new Room(false, [ m7; m8 ])
let l1 = new Level(100, [ r1; r2 ])
let l2 = new Level(50, [ r3; r4 ])
let dungeon = new Dungeon([ l1; l2 ])
dungeon.Print()
// toggle wake status of all monsters
let dungeon1 = dungeon.MapMonstersOnLevel (fun m -> new Monster(not m.Awake)) 0
dungeon1.Print()
// remove monsters that are asleep which are in locked rooms on levels where illumination < 100 and unlock those rooms
let monsterFunc2 = List.filter (fun (monster : Monster) -> monster.Awake)
let roomFunc2 = List.map(fun (room : Room) -> if room.Locked then new Room(false, room.Monsters |> monsterFunc2) else room)
let levelFunc2 = List.map(fun (level : Level) -> if level.Illumination < 100 then new Level(level.Illumination, level.Rooms |> roomFunc2) else level)
let dungeon2 = dungeon.Update levelFunc2
dungeon2.Print()
Here's the same code using lenses as currently defined in FSharpx.
As other answers note, it's convenient to use records here; they give you structural equality for free among other things.
I also attach the corresponding lenses for the properties as static members; you can also define them in a module or as loose functions. I prefer static members here, for practical purposes it's just like a module.
open FSharpx
type Monster = {
Awake: bool
} with
static member awake =
{ Get = fun (x: Monster) -> x.Awake
Set = fun v (x: Monster) -> { x with Awake = v } }
type Room = {
Locked: bool
Monsters: Monster list
} with
static member locked =
{ Get = fun (x: Room) -> x.Locked
Set = fun v (x: Room) -> { x with Locked = v } }
static member monsters =
{ Get = fun (x: Room) -> x.Monsters
Set = fun v (x: Room) -> { x with Monsters = v } }
type Level = {
Illumination: int
Rooms: Room list
} with
static member illumination =
{ Get = fun (x: Level) -> x.Illumination
Set = fun v (x: Level) -> { x with Illumination = v } }
static member rooms =
{ Get = fun (x: Level) -> x.Rooms
Set = fun v (x: Level) -> { x with Rooms = v } }
type Dungeon = {
Levels: Level list
} with
static member levels =
{ Get = fun (x: Dungeon) -> x.Levels
Set = fun v (x: Dungeon) -> { x with Levels = v } }
static member print (d: Dungeon) =
d.Levels
|> List.iteri (fun i e ->
printfn "Level %d: Illumination %d" i e.Illumination
e.Rooms |> List.iteri (fun i e ->
let state = if e.Locked then "locked" else "unlocked"
printfn " Room %d is %s" i state
e.Monsters |> List.iteri (fun i e ->
let state = if e.Awake then "awake" else "asleep"
printfn " Monster %d is %s" i state)))
I also define print as a static member; again it's like a function in a module, and it's more composable than an instance method (though I won't compose it here).
Now to generate the sample data. I think { Monster.Awake = true } is more desciptive than new Monster(true). If you wanted to use classes I'd name the parameter explicitly, e.g. Monster(awake: true)
// generate test dungeon
let m1 = { Monster.Awake = true }
let m2 = { Monster.Awake = false }
let m3 = { Monster.Awake = true }
let m4 = { Monster.Awake = false }
let m5 = { Monster.Awake = true }
let m6 = { Monster.Awake = false }
let m7 = { Monster.Awake = true }
let m8 = { Monster.Awake = false }
let r1 = { Room.Locked = true; Monsters = [m1; m2] }
let r2 = { Room.Locked = false; Monsters = [m3; m4] }
let r3 = { Room.Locked = true; Monsters = [m5; m6] }
let r4 = { Room.Locked = false; Monsters = [m7; m8] }
let l1 = { Level.Illumination = 100; Rooms = [r1; r2] }
let l2 = { Level.Illumination = 50; Rooms = [r3; r4] }
let dungeon = { Dungeon.Levels = [l1; l2] }
Dungeon.print dungeon
Now comes the fun part: composing lenses to update the monsters for all rooms for a particular level in a dungeon:
open FSharpx.Lens.Operators
let mapMonstersOnLevel nLevel f =
Dungeon.levels >>| Lens.forList nLevel >>| Level.rooms >>| Lens.listMap Room.monsters
|> Lens.update (f |> List.map |> List.map)
// toggle wake status of all monsters
let dungeon1 = dungeon |> mapMonstersOnLevel 0 (Monster.awake.Update not)
Dungeon.print dungeon1
For the second dungeon I also use lenses but without lens composition. It's sort of a DSL defined by small composed functions (some of the functions are from lenses). Maybe there are lenses to express this more concisely, but I haven't figured it out.
// remove monsters that are asleep
// which are in locked rooms on levels where illumination < 100
// and unlock those rooms
let unlock = Room.locked.Set false
let removeAsleepMonsters = Room.monsters.Update (List.filter Monster.awake.Get)
let removeAsleepMonsters_unlock_rooms = List.mapIf Room.locked.Get (unlock >> removeAsleepMonsters)
let isLowIllumination = Level.illumination.Get >> ((>)100)
let removeAsleepMonsters_unlock_level = Level.rooms.Update removeAsleepMonsters_unlock_rooms
let removeAsleepMonsters_unlock_levels = List.mapIf isLowIllumination removeAsleepMonsters_unlock_level
let dungeon2 = dungeon |> Dungeon.levels.Update removeAsleepMonsters_unlock_levels
Dungeon.print dungeon2
I overused lenses and pointfree a bit here, partially on purpose, just to show what it could look like. Some won't like it, claiming it's not idiomatic or clear. Maybe so, but it's another tool that you can choose to use or not, depending on your context.
But more importantly, because Update is a Get followed by a function followed by a Set, this isn't as efficient as your code when it comes to processing lists: an Update in Lens.forList first gets the nth element in the list, which is an O(n) operation.
To summarize:
Pros:
Very concise.
Enables pointfree style.
Code involving lenses is generally oblivious of the source type representation (it can be a class, a record, a single-case DU, a dictionary, it doesn't matter).
Cons:
May be inefficient for some cases in current implementation.
Due to lack of macros, requires some boilerplate.
Thanks for this example, as a result I'll be revising the current design of lenses in FSharpx and see if it can be optimized.
I committed this code to the FSharpx repository: https://github.com/fsharp/fsharpx/commit/136c763e3529abbf91ad52b8127ce11cbb3dff28
I asked a similar question, but about haskell: Is there a Haskell idiom for updating a nested data structure?
The excellent answers mentioned a concept known as functional lenses.
Unfortunately, I don't know what the package is, or if it even exists, for F#.
Update: two knowledgeable F#-ists (F#-ers? F#as?) left useful links about this in comments, so I'll post them here:
#TomasPetricek suggested FSharpX and this website describing it
#RyanRiley gave the link for the package
It's awesome that these two guys took the time to read my answer, comment and improve it, as they're both developers of FSharpX!
More extraneous information: I was motivated to figure out how to do this by Clojure's assoc-in and update-in functions, which proved to me that it is possible in functional languages! Of course, Clojure's dynamic typing makes it simpler than in Haskell/F#. Haskell's solution involves templating, I believe.
I posted a similar question about Scala about a year back. The answers mention three concepts as a solution to this problem: Zippers, Tree rewriting, and Lenses.
I don't know why you want to use classes here. I think you can leverage the power of pattern matching if you use records for holding data and keeping them minimal:
// Types
type Monster = {
Awake: bool
}
with override x.ToString() =
if x.Awake then "awake" else "asleep"
type Room = {
Locked: bool;
Monsters: Monster list
}
with override x.ToString() =
let state = if x.Locked then "locked" else "unlocked"
state + "\n" + (x.Monsters |> List.mapi (fun i m -> sprintf " Monster %d is %s" i (string m)) |> String.concat "\n")
type Level = {
Illumination : int;
Rooms : Room list
}
with override x.ToString() =
(string x.Illumination) + "\n" + (x.Rooms |> List.mapi (fun i r -> sprintf " Room %d is %s" i (string r)) |> String.concat "\n")
type Dungeon = {
Levels: Level list;
}
with override x.ToString() =
x.Levels |> List.mapi (fun i l -> sprintf "Level %d: Illumination %s" i (string l)) |> String.concat "\n"
To me, putting functions for manipulating Dungeon inside the class is unnatural. The code looks better if you put them in a module and make use of above declarations:
/// Utility functions
let updateMonster (m: Monster) a =
{m with Awake = a}
let updateRoom (r: Room) l monstersFunc =
{ Locked = l;
Monsters = r.Monsters |> monstersFunc}
let updateLevel (l: Level) il roomsFunc =
{Illumination = il; Rooms = l.Rooms |> roomsFunc}
let updateDungeon (d: Dungeon) levelsFunc =
{d with Levels = d.Levels |> levelsFunc}
/// Update functions
let mapMonstersOnLevel (d: Dungeon) nLevel =
let monstersFunc = List.map (fun m -> updateMonster m (not m.Awake))
let roomsFunc = List.map (fun r -> updateRoom r r.Locked monstersFunc)
let levelsFunc = List.mapi (fun i l -> if i = nLevel then updateLevel l l.Illumination roomsFunc else l)
updateDungeon d levelsFunc
let removeSleptMonsters (d: Dungeon) =
let monstersFunc = List.filter (fun m -> m.Awake)
let roomsFunc = List.map (fun r -> if r.Locked then updateRoom r false monstersFunc else r)
let levelsFunc = List.map (fun l -> if l.Illumination < 100 then updateLevel l l.Illumination roomsFunc else l)
updateDungeon d levelsFunc
Then you can see manipulating these nested data structures is much easier. However, above functions still have redundancy. You can refactor more if you use lenses which come very natural with records. Check out the insightful article by Mauricio Scheffer, which is really close to this formulation.
I've implemented a lens library in C# via reflection. The core of the library is
this function
/// <summary>
/// Perform an immutable persistent set on a sub
/// property of the object. The object is not
/// mutated rather a copy of the object with
/// the required change is returned.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="ConvertedTo">type of the target object</typeparam>
/// <typeparam name="V">type of the value to be set</typeparam>
/// <param name="This">the target object</param>
/// <param name="names">the list of property names composing the property path</param>
/// <param name="value">the value to assign to the property</param>
/// <returns>A new object with the required change implemented</returns>
private static T Set<T, V>
(this T This, List<string> names, V value)
where T : class, Immutable
{
var name = names.First();
var rest = names.Skip(1).ToList();
if (names.Count == 1)
{
var copy = This.ShallowClone();
copy.SetPrivatePropertyValue(names.First(), value);
return copy as T;
}
else
{
var copy = This.ShallowClone();
var subtree = copy
.GetPrivatePropertyValue<Immutable>(name)
.Set(rest, value);
copy.SetPrivatePropertyValue(names.First(), subtree);
return copy as T;
}
}
The above function is composed using helper library into various utilities,
one of which is an undo stack based on immutable persistent records. There
is an overload of this function
public static Maybe<T> MaybeSet<T,V>
(this T This, Expression<Func<T, V>> prop, V value)
where T : class, Immutable
{
if (!EqualityComparer<V>.Default.Equals(This.Get(prop.Compile()),value))
{
var names = ReactiveUI.Reflection.ExpressionToPropertyNames(prop).ToList();
return This.Set(names, value).ToMaybe();
}
else
{
return None<T>.Default;
}
}
which allows more natural type safe notation using LINQ expressions.
foo = foo.Set(f=>f.A.B.C, 10);
There is a lot of reflection going on in the library but the reduction
in boilerplate is worth the performance hit. See the spec. I only need to
tag the record as Immutable to get it to work. I don't have to
provide getters and settors.
class A : Immutable
{
public int P { get; private set; }
public B B { get; private set; }
public A(int p, B b)
{
P = p;
B = b;
}
}
class B : Immutable
{
public int P { get; private set; }
public C C { get; private set; }
public B(int p, C c)
{
P = p;
C = c;
}
}
class C : Immutable
{
public int P { get; private set; }
public C(int p)
{
P = p;
}
}
namespace Utils.Spec
{
public class ImmutableObjectPatternSpec : IEnableLogger
{
[Fact]
public void SetterSpec()
{
var a = new A
( p:10
, b: new B
( p: 20
, c : new C(30)));
var a_ = a.Set(p => p.B.C.P, 10);
a.Should().NotBe(a_);
a.B.C.P.Should().Be(30);
a_.B.C.P.Should().Be(10);
}
[Fact]
public void StringListGettersShouldWork()
{
var a = new A
( p:10
, b: new B
( p: 20
, c : new C(30)));
var a_ = a.Set(p => p.B.C.P, 10);
a_.Get(p=>p.B.C.P).Should().Be(10);
}
}
}
Perhaps reflection based lenses would reduce boiler plate in F#. Maybe
performance could be improved with caching of the accessors or maybe
IL generation.

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