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[phd-thesis.git] / dsl / first.tex
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9 \chapter{First-class data types in shallow embedded domain-specific languages using metaprogramming}%
10 \label{chp:first-class_datatypes}%
11 \begin{chapterabstract}
12 \Gls{FP} languages are excellent for hosting \glspl{EDSL} because of their rich type systems, minimal syntax, and referential transparency.
13 However, data types defined in the host language are not automatically available in the embedded language.
14 To do so, all the operations on the data type must be ported to the \gls{EDSL} resulting in a lot of boilerplate.
15
16 This chapter shows that by using metaprogramming, all first-order user-defined data types can be automatically made first class in shallow \glspl{EDSL}.
17 We show this by providing an implementation in \gls{TH} for a typical \gls{DSL} with two different semantics.
18 Furthermore, we show that by utilising quasiquotation, there is hardly any burden on the syntax.
19 Finally, the chapter also serves as a gentle introduction to \gls{TH}.
20 \end{chapterabstract}
21
22 \section{Introduction}
23 \Gls{FP} languages are excellent candidates for hosting \glspl{EDSL} because of their rich type systems, minimal syntax, and referential transparency.
24 By expressing the language constructs in the host language, the parser, the type checker, and the run time can be inherited from the host language.
25 Unfortunately, data types defined in the host language are not automatically available in the \gls{EDSL}.
26
27 The two main strategies for embedding \glspl{DSL} in \pgls{FP} language are deep embedding (also called initial) and shallow embedding (also called final).
28 Deep embedding represents the constructs in the language as data types and the semantics as functions over these data types.
29 This makes extending the language with new semantics effortless: just add another function.
30 In contrast, adding language constructs requires changing the data type and updating all existing semantics to support this new construct.
31 Shallow embedding on the other hand models the language constructs as functions with the semantics embedded.
32 Consequently, adding a construct is easy, i.e.\ it only entails adding another function.
33 Contrarily, adding semantics requires adapting all language constructs.
34 Lifting the functions to type classes, i.e.\ parametrising the constructs over the semantics, allows extension of the language both in constructs and in semantics orthogonally. This advanced style of embedding is called tagless-final or class-based shallow embedding \citep{kiselyov_typed_2012}.
35
36 While it is often possible to lift values of a user-defined data type to a value in the \gls{DSL}, it is not possible to interact with it using \gls{DSL} constructs, since they are not first-class citizens.
37
38 Concretely, it is not possible to
39 \begin{enumerate*}
40 \item construct values from expressions using a constructor,
41 \item deconstruct values into expressions using a deconstructor or pattern matching,
42 \item test which constructor the value holds.
43 \end{enumerate*}
44 The functions for this are simply not available automatically in the embedded language.
45 For some semantics---such as an interpreter---it is possible to directly lift the functions from the host language to the \gls{DSL}.
46 In other cases---e.g.\ \emph{compiling} \glspl{DSL} such as a compiler or a printer---this is not possible \citep{elliott_compiling_2003}. %the torget this is not possible. Cannot just be lifted from the host language to the \gls{DSL} so it requires a lot of boilerplate to define and implement them.
47 Thus, all the operations on the data type have to be defined by hand requiring a lot of plumbing and resulting in a lot of boilerplate code.
48
49 To relieve the burden of adding all these functions, metaprogramming\nobreak---\nobreak\hskip0pt and custom quasiquoters---can be used.
50 Metaprogramming entails that some parts of the program are generated by a program itself, i.e.\ the program is data.
51 Quasiquotation is a metaprogramming mechanism that allows entering verbatim code for which a---possibly user defined---translation is used to convert the verbatim code to host language \gls{AST} nodes.
52 Metaprogramming allows functions to be added to the program at compile time based on the structure of user-defined data types.
53
54 \subsection{Contributions}
55 This chapter shows that with the use of metaprogramming, all first-order user-defined data types can automatically be made first class for shallow \glspl{EDSL}.
56 It does so by providing an implementation in \gls{TH} for a typical \gls{DSL} with two different semantics: an interpreter and a pretty printer.
57 Furthermore, we show that by utilising quasiquotation, there is hardly any burden on the syntax.
58 Finally, the chapter also serves as a gentle introduction to \gls{TH} and reflects on the process of using \gls{TH}.
59
60 \section{Tagless-final embedding}
61 Tagless-final embedding is an upgrade to standard shallow embedding achieved by lifting all language construct functions to type classes.
62 As a result, views on the \gls{DSL} are data types implementing these classes.
63
64 To illustrate the technique, a simple \gls{DSL}, a language consisting of literals and addition, is outlined.
65 This language, implemented according to the tagless-final style \citep{carette_finally_2009} in \gls{HASKELL} \citep{peyton_jones_haskell_2003} consists initially only of one type class containing two functions.
66 The \haskellinline{lit} function lifts values from the host language to the \gls{DSL} domain.
67 The class constraint \haskellinline{Show} is enforced on the type variable \haskellinline{a} to make sure that the value can be printed.
68 The infix function \haskellinline{+.} represents the addition of two expressions in the \gls{DSL}.
69
70 \begin{lstHaskell}
71 class Expr v where
72 lit :: Show a => a -> v a
73 (+.) :: Num a => v a -> v a -> v a
74 infixl 6 +.
75 \end{lstHaskell}
76
77 The implementation of a view on the \gls{DSL} is achieved by implementing the type classes with the data type representing the view.
78 In the case of our example \gls{DSL}, an interpreter accounting for failure may be implemented as an instance for the \haskellinline{Maybe} type.
79 The standard infix functor application and infix sequential application are used so that potential failure is abstracted away from\footnotemark.
80 \begin{lrbox}{\LstBox}
81 \begin{lstHaskell}[frame=]
82 <$> :: (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
83 <*> :: f (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
84 infixl 4 <$>, <*>\end{lstHaskell}
85 \end{lrbox}
86 \footnotetext{\usebox{\LstBox}}
87
88 \begin{lstHaskell}
89 instance Expr Maybe where
90 lit a = Just a
91 (+.) l r = (+) <$> l <*> r
92 \end{lstHaskell}
93
94 \subsection{Adding language constructs}
95 To add an extra language construct we define a new class housing it.
96 For example, to add division we define a new class as follows:
97
98 \begin{lstHaskell}
99 class Div v where
100 (/.) :: Integral a => v a -> v a -> v a
101 infixl 7 /.
102 \end{lstHaskell}
103
104 Division is an operation that is undefined if the right operand is equal to zero.
105 To capture this behaviour, the \haskellinline{Nothing} constructor from \haskellinline{Maybe} is used to represent errors.
106 Both sides of the division operator are evaluated.
107 If the right-hand side is zero, the division is not performed and an error is returned instead:
108
109 \begin{lstHaskell}
110 instance Div Maybe where
111 (/.) l r = l >>= \x->r >>= \y->
112 if y == 0 then Nothing else Just (x `div` y)
113 \end{lstHaskell}
114
115 \subsection{Adding semantics}
116 To add semantics to the \gls{DSL}, the existing classes are implemented with a novel data type representing the view on the \gls{DSL}.
117 First a data type representing the semantics is defined. In this case, the printer is kept very simple for brevity and just defined as a \haskellinline{newtype} of a string to store the printed representation\footnotemark.
118 \footnotetext{%
119 In this case a \haskellinline{newtype} is used instead of regular \haskellinline{data} declarations.
120 \haskellinline{newtype}s are special data types only consisting a single constructor with one field to which the type is isomorphic.
121 During compilation the constructor is completely removed resulting in no overhead \citep[\citesection{4.2.3}]{peyton_jones_haskell_2003}.
122 }
123 Since the language is typed, the printer data type has to have a type variable, but it is only used during typing---i.e.\ a phantom type \citep{leijen_domain_2000}:
124
125 \begin{lstHaskell}
126 newtype Printer a = P { runPrinter :: String }
127 \end{lstHaskell}
128
129 The class instances for \haskellinline{Expr} and \haskellinline{Div} for the pretty printer are straightforward and as follows:
130
131 \begin{lstHaskell}
132 instance Expr Printer where
133 lit a = P (show a)
134 (+.) l r = P ("(" ++ runPrinter l
135 ++ "+" ++ runPrinter r ++ ")")
136
137 instance Div Printer where
138 (/.) l r = P ("(" ++ runPrinter l
139 ++ "/" ++ runPrinter r ++ ")")
140 \end{lstHaskell}
141
142 \subsection{Functions}
143 Adding functions to the language is achieved by adding a multi-parameter class to the \gls{DSL}.
144 The type of the class function allows for the implementation to only allow first-order functions by supplying the arguments in a tuple.
145 Furthermore, with the \haskellinline{:-} operator the syntax becomes useable.
146 Finally, by defining the functions as a \gls{HOAS} type safety is achieved \citep{pfenning_higher-order_1988,chlipala_parametric_2008}.
147 The complete definition looks as follows:
148
149 \begin{lstHaskell}
150 class Function a v where
151 fun :: ((a -> v s) -> In (a -> v s) (v u)) -> v u
152 data In a b = a :- b
153 infix 1 :-
154 \end{lstHaskell}
155
156 The \haskellinline{Function} type class is now used to define functions with little syntactic overhead\footnote{The \GHCmod{BlockArguments} extension of \gls{GHC} is used to reduce the number of brackets that allows lambda's to be an argument to a function without brackets}.
157 The following listing shows an expression in the \gls{DSL} utilising two user-defined functions:
158
159 \begin{lstHaskell}
160 fun \increment-> (\x ->x +. lit 1)
161 :- fun \divide-> (\(x, y)->x /. y )
162 :- increment (divide (lit 38, lit 5))
163 \end{lstHaskell}
164
165 The interpreter only requires one instance of the \haskellinline{Function} class that works for any argument type.
166 In the implementation, the resulting function \haskellinline{g} is simultaneously provided to the definition \haskellinline{def}.
167 Because the laziness of \gls{HASKELL}'s lazy let bindings, this results in a fixed point calculation:
168
169 \begin{lstHaskell}
170 instance Function a Maybe where
171 fun def = let g :- m = def g in m
172 \end{lstHaskell}
173
174 The given \haskellinline{Printer} type is not sufficient to implement the instances for the \haskellinline{Function} class, it must be possible to generate fresh function names.
175 After extending the \haskellinline{Printer} type to contain some sort of state to generate fresh function names and a \haskellinline{MonadWriter [String]}\footnotemark\ to streamline the output, we define an instance for every arity.
176 \begin{lrbox}{\LstBox}
177 \begin{lstHaskell}[frame=]
178 freshLabel :: Printer String
179 tell :: MonadWriter w m => w -> m ()\end{lstHaskell}
180 \end{lrbox}
181 \footnotetext{\usebox{\LstBox}}
182 To illustrate this, the instance for unary functions is shown, all other arities are implemented in similar fashion.
183
184 \begin{lstHaskell}
185 instance Function () Printer where ...
186 instance Function (Printer a) Printer where ...
187 fun def = freshLabel >>= \f->
188 let g :- m = def $ \a0->const undefined
189 <$> (tell ["f", show f, " ("]
190 >> a0 >> tell [")"])
191 in tell ["let f", f, " a0 = "]
192 >> g (const undefined <$> tell ["a0"])
193 >> tell [" in "] >> m
194 instance Function (Printer a, Printer b) Printer where ...
195 \end{lstHaskell}
196
197 Running the given printer on the example code shown before produces roughly the following output, running the interpreter on this code results in \haskellinline{Just 8}.
198
199 \begin{lstHaskell}
200 let f0 a1 = a1 + 1
201 in let f2 a3 a4 = a3 / a4
202 in f0 (f2 38 5)
203 \end{lstHaskell}
204
205 \subsection{Data types}
206 Lifting values from the host language to the \gls{DSL} is possible using the \haskellinline{lit} function as long as the type of the value has instances for all the class constraints.
207 Unfortunately, once lifted, it is not possible to do anything with values of the user-defined data type other than passing them around.
208 It is not possible to construct new values from expressions in the \gls{DSL}, to deconstruct a value into the fields, nor to test of which constructor the value is.
209 Furthermore, while in our language the only constraint is the automatically derivable \haskellinline{Show}, in real-world languages the class constraints may be very difficult to satisfy for complex types, for example serialisation to a single stack cell in the case of a compiler.
210
211 As a consequence, for user-defined data types---such as a pro\-gram\-mer-defined list type\footnotemark---to become first-class citizens in the \gls{DSL}, language constructs for constructors, deconstructors and constructor predicates must be defined.
212 Field selectors are also useful functions for working with user-defined data types.
213 They are not considered for the sake of brevity but can be implemented using the deconstructor functions.
214 \footnotetext{
215 For example: \haskellinline{data List a = Nil \| Cons \{hd :: a, tl :: List a\}}
216 }
217 The constructs for the list type would result in the following class definition:
218
219 \begin{lstHaskell}
220 class ListDSL v where
221 -- constructors
222 nil :: v (List a)
223 cons :: v a -> v (List a) -> v (List a)
224 -- deconstructors
225 unNil :: v (List a) -> v b -> v b
226 unCons :: v (List a) -> (v a -> v (List a) -> v b) -> v b
227 -- constructor predicates
228 isNil :: v (List a) -> v Bool
229 isCons :: v (List a) -> v Bool
230 \end{lstHaskell}
231
232 Furthermore, instances for the \gls{DSL}'s views need to be created.
233 For example, to use the interpreter, the following instance must be available.
234 Note that at first glance, it would feel natural to have \haskellinline{isNil} and \haskellinline{isCons} return \haskellinline{Nothing} since we are in the \haskellinline{Maybe} monad.
235 However, this would fail the entire expression and the idea is that the constructor test can be done from within the \gls{DSL}.
236
237 \begin{lstHaskell}
238 instance ListDSL Maybe where
239 nil = Just Nil
240 cons hd tl = Cons <$> hd <*> tl
241 unNil d f = d >>= \Nil->f
242 unCons d f = d >>= \(Cons hd tl)->f (Just hd) (Just tl)
243 isNil d = d >>= \case[+\footnotemark+]
244 Nil -> Just True
245 _ -> Just False
246 isCons d = d >>= \case
247 Cons _ _ -> Just True
248 Nil -> Just False
249 \end{lstHaskell}
250 \footnotetext{%
251 \haskellinline{\\case} is an abbreviation for \haskellinline{\\x->case x of ...} when using GHC's \GHCmod{LambdaCase} extension.
252 }
253
254 Adding these classes and their corresponding instances is tedious and results in boilerplate code.
255 We therefore resort to metaprogramming, and in particular \gls{TH} \citep{sheard_template_2002} to alleviate this burden.
256
257 \section{Template metaprogramming}
258 Metaprogramming is a special flavour of programming where programs have the ability to treat and manipulate programs or program fragments as data.
259 There are several techniques to facilitate metaprogramming, moreover it has been around for many years now \citep{lilis_survey_2019}.
260 Even though it has been around for many years, it is considered complex \citep{sheard_accomplishments_2001}.
261
262 \gls{TH} is GHC's de facto metaprogramming system, implemented as a compiler extension together with a library \citep{sheard_template_2002}\citep[\citesection{6.13.1}]{ghc_team_ghc_2021}.
263 Readers already familiar with \gls{TH} can safely skip this section.
264
265 \gls{TH} adds four main concepts to the language, na\-me\-ly \gls{AST} data types, splicing, quasiquotation and reification.
266 With this machinery, regular \gls{HASKELL} functions can be defined that are called at compile time, inserting generated code into the \gls{AST}.
267 These functions are monadic functions operating in the \haskellinline{Q} monad.
268 The \haskellinline{Q} monad facilitates failure, reification and fresh identifier generation for hygienic macros \citep{kohlbecker_hygienic_1986}.
269 Within the \haskellinline{Q} monad, capturable and non-capturable identifiers can be generated using the \haskellinline{mkName} and \haskellinline{newName} functions respectively.
270 The \emph{Peter Parker principle}\footnote{With great power comes great responsibility.} holds for the \haskellinline{Q} monad as well because it executes at compile time and is very powerful.
271 For example, it can subvert module boundaries, thus accessing constructors that were hidden; access the structure of abstract types; and it may cause side effects during compilation because it is possible to call \haskellinline{IO} operations \citep{terei_safe_2012}.
272 To achieve the goal of embedding data types in a \gls{DSL} we refrain from using these \emph{unsafe} features.
273
274 \subsection{Data types}
275 For all of \gls{HASKELL}'s \gls{AST} elements, data types are provided that are mostly isomorphic to the actual data types used in the compiler.
276 With these data types, the entire syntax of a \gls{HASKELL} program can be specified.
277 Often, a data type is suffixed with the context, e.g.\ there is a \haskellinline{VarE} and a \haskellinline{VarP} for a variable in an expression or in a pattern respectively.
278 To give an impression of these data types, a selection of data types available in \gls{TH} is given below:
279
280 \begin{lstHaskell}
281 data Dec = FunD Name [Clause] | DataD Cxt Name ... | SigD Name Type
282 | ClassD Cxt Name | ...
283 data Clause = Clause [Pat] Body [Dec]
284 data Pat = LitP Lit | VarP Name | TupP [Pat] | WildP | ListP [Pat] | ...
285 data Body = GuardedB [(Guard, Exp)] | NormalB Exp
286 data Guard = NormalG Exp | PatG [Stmt]
287 data Exp = VarE Name | LitE Lit | AppE Exp Exp | TupE [Maybe Exp]
288 | LamE [Pat] Exp | ...
289 data Lit = CharL Char | StringL String | IntegerL Integer | ...
290 \end{lstHaskell}
291
292 To ease creating \gls{AST} data types in the \haskellinline{Q} monad, lowercase variants of the constructors are available that lift the constructor to the \haskellinline{Q} monad.
293 For example, for the \haskellinline{LamE} constructor, the following \haskellinline{lamE} function is available.
294
295 \begin{lstHaskell}
296 lamE :: [Q Pat] -> Q Exp -> Q Exp
297 lamE ps es = LamE <$> sequence ps <*> es
298 \end{lstHaskell}
299
300 \subsection{Splicing}
301 Special splicing syntax (\haskellinline{\$(...)}) marks functions for compile-time execution.
302 Apart from the fact that they always produce a value of an \gls{AST} data type, they are regular functions.
303 Depending on the context and location of the splice, the result type is either a list of declarations, a type, an expression or a pattern.
304 The result of this function, when executed successfully, is then spliced into the code and treated as regular code by the compiler.
305 Consequently, the code that is generated may not be type safe, in which case the compiler provides a type error on the generated code.
306 The following listing shows an example of a \gls{TH} function generating on-the-fly functions for arbitrary field selection in a tuple.
307 When called as \haskellinline{\$(tsel 2 4)} it expands at compile time to \haskellinline{\\(_, _, f, _)->f}:
308
309 \begin{lstHaskell}
310 tsel :: Int -> Int -> Q Exp
311 tsel field total = do
312 f <- newName "f"
313 lamE [ tupP [if i == field then varP f else wildP
314 | i<-[0..total-1]]] (varE f)
315 \end{lstHaskell}
316
317 \subsection{Quasiquotation}
318 Another key concept of \gls{TH} is Quasiquotation, the dual of splicing \citep{bawden_quasiquotation_1999}.
319 While it is possible to construct entire programs using the provided data types, it is a little cumbersome.
320 Using \emph{Oxford brackets} (\verb#[|# \ldots\verb#|]#) or single or double apostrophes, verbatim \gls{HASKELL} code can be entered which is converted automatically to the corresponding \gls{AST} nodes easing the creation of language constructs.
321 Depending on the context, different quasiquotes are used:
322 \begin{itemize*}
323 \item \haskellinline{[\|...\|]} or \haskellinline{[e\|...\|]} for expressions
324 \item \haskellinline{[d\|...\|]} for declarations
325 \item \haskellinline{[p\|...\|]} for patterns
326 \item \haskellinline{[t\|...\|]} for types
327 \item \haskellinline{'...} for function names
328 \item \haskellinline{''...} for type names
329 \end{itemize*}.
330 It is possible to escape the quasiquotes again by splicing.
331 Variables defined within quasiquotes are always fresh---as if defined with \haskellinline{newName}---but it is possible to capture identifiers using \haskellinline{mkName}.
332 For example, \haskellinline{[\|\\x->x\|]} translates to \haskellinline{newName "x" >>= \\x->lamE [varP x] (varE x)} and does not interfere with other \haskellinline{x}s already defined.
333
334 \subsection{Reification}
335 Reification is the act of querying the compiler for information about a certain name.
336 For example, reifying a type name results in information about the type and the corresponding \gls{AST} nodes of the type's definition.
337 This information can then be used to generate code according to the structure of data types.
338 Reification is done using the \haskellinline{reify :: Name -> Q Info} function.
339 The \haskellinline{Info} type is an \gls{ADT} containing all the---known to the compiler---information about the matching type: constructors, instances, \etc.
340
341 \section{Metaprogramming for generating DSL functions}
342 With the power of metaprogramming, we can generate the boilerplate code for our user-defined data types automatically at compile time.
343 To generate the code required for the \gls{DSL}, we define the \haskellinline{genDSL} function.
344 The type belonging to the name passed as an argument to this function is made available for the \gls{DSL} by generating the \haskellinline{typeDSL} class and view instances.
345 For the \haskellinline{List} type it is called as: \haskellinline{\$(genDSL ''List)}\footnotemark.
346 \footnotetext{
347 \haskellinline{''} is used instead of \haskellinline{'} to instruct the compiler to look up the information for \haskellinline{List} as a type and not as a constructor.
348 }
349
350 The \haskellinline{genDSL} function is a regular function---though \gls{TH} requires that it is defined in a separate module---that has type: \haskellinline{Name -> Q [Dec]}, i.e.\ given a name, it produces a list of declarations in the \haskellinline{Q} monad.
351 The \haskellinline{genDSL} function first reifies the name to retrieve the structural information.
352 If the name matches a type constructor containing a data type declaration, the structure of the type---the type variables, the type name and information about the constructors\footnotemark---are passed to the \haskellinline{genDSL'} function.
353 \footnotetext{
354 Defined as \haskellinline{type VarBangType = (Name, Bang, Type)} by \gls{TH}.
355 }
356 The \haskellinline{getConsName} function filters out unsupported data types such as \glspl{GADT} and makes sure that every field has a name.
357 For regular \glspl{ADT}, the \haskellinline{adtFieldName} function is used to generate a name for the constructor based on the indices of the fields\footnotemark.
358 \footnotetext{
359 \haskellinline{adtFieldName :: Name -> Integer -> Name}
360 }
361 From this structure of the type, \haskellinline{genDSL'} generates a list of declarations containing a class definition (\cref{sec_fcd:class}), instances for the interpreter (\cref{sec_fcd:interpreter}), and instances of the printer (\cref{sec_fcd:prettyprinter}) respectively.
362
363 \begin{lstHaskell}
364 genDSL :: Name -> Q [Dec]
365 genDSL name = reify name >>= \case
366 TyConI (DataD cxt typeName tvs mkind constructors derives)
367 -> mapM getConsName constructors >>= \d->genDSL' tvs typeName d
368 t -> fail ("genDSL does not support: " ++ show t)
369
370 getConsName :: Con -> Q (Name, [VarBangType])
371 getConsName (NormalC consName fs) = pure (consName,
372 [(adtFieldName consName i, b, t) | (i, (b, t))<-[0..] `zip` fs])
373 getConsName (RecC consName fs) = pure (consName, fs)
374 getConsName c = fail ("genDSL does not support: " ++ show c)
375
376 genDSL' :: [TyVarBndr] -> Name -> [(Name, [VarBangType])] -> Q [Dec]
377 genDSL' typeVars typeName constructors = sequence
378 [ mkClass, mkInterpreter, mkPrinter, ... ]
379 where
380 (consNames, fields) = unzip constructors
381 ...
382 \end{lstHaskell}
383
384 \subsection{Class generation}\label{sec_fcd:class}
385 The function for generating the class definition is defined in the \haskellinline{where} clause of the \haskellinline{genDSL'} function.
386 Using the \haskellinline{classD} constructor, a single type class is created with a single type variable \haskellinline{v}.
387 The \haskellinline{classD} function takes five arguments:
388 \begin{enumerate*}
389 \item a context, i.e.\ the class constraints, which is empty in this case
390 \item a name, generated from the type name using the \haskellinline{className} function that simply appends the text \haskellinline{DSL}
391 \item a list of type variables, in this case the only type variable is the view on the \gls{DSL}, i.e.\ \haskellinline{v}
392 \item functional dependencies, empty in our case
393 \item a list of function declarations, i.e.\ the class members, in this case it is a concatenation of the constructors, deconstructors, and constructor predicates
394 \end{enumerate*}
395 Depending on the required information, either \haskellinline{zipWith} or \haskellinline{map} is used to apply the generation function to all constructors.
396
397 \begin{lstHaskell}
398 mkClass :: Q Dec
399 mkClass = classD (cxt []) (className typeName) [PlainTV (mkName "v")] []
400 ( zipWith mkConstructor consNames fields
401 ++ zipWith mkDeconstructor consNames fields
402 ++ map mkPredicate consNames
403 )
404 \end{lstHaskell}
405
406 In all class members, the view \haskellinline{v} plays a crucial role.
407 Therefore, a definition for \haskellinline{v} is accessible for all generation functions.
408 Furthermore, the \haskellinline{res} type represents the \emph{result} type, it is defined as the type including all type variables.
409 This result type is derived from the type name and the list of type variables.
410 In case of the \haskellinline{List} type, \haskellinline{res} is defined as \haskellinline{v (List a)} and is available for as well:
411
412 \begin{lstHaskell}
413 v = varT (mkName "v")
414 res = v `appT` foldl appT (conT typeName)
415 (map getName typeVars)
416 where getName (PlainTV name) = varT name
417 getName (KindedTV name _) = varT name
418 \end{lstHaskell}
419
420 \subsubsection{Constructors}
421 The constructor definitions are generated from just the constructor names and the field information.
422 All class members are defined using the \haskellinline{sigD} constructor that represents a function signature.
423 The first argument is the name of the constructor function, a lowercase variant of the actual constructor name generated using the \haskellinline{constructorName} function.
424 The second argument is the type of the function.
425 A constructor $C_k$ of type $T$ where
426 $T~tv_0~\ldots~tv_n = \ldots |~ C_k~a_0~\ldots~a_m~| \ldots~$
427 is defined as a \gls{DSL} function
428 $c_k \dcolon v~a_0 \shortrightarrow \ldots \shortrightarrow v~a_m \shortrightarrow v~(T~v_0~\ldots~v_n) $.
429 In the implementation, first the view \haskellinline{v} is applied to all the field types.
430 Then, the constructor type is constructed by folding over the lifted field types with the result type as the initial value using \haskellinline{mkCFun}.
431
432 \begin{lstHaskell}
433 mkConstructor :: Name -> [VarBangType] -> Q Dec
434 mkConstructor n fs = sigD (constructorName n) (mkCFun fs res)
435
436 mkCFun :: [VarBangType] -> Q Type -> Q Type
437 mkCFun fs res = foldr (\x y->[t|$x -> $y|])
438 (map (\(_, _, t)->v `appT` pure t) fs)
439 \end{lstHaskell}
440
441 \subsubsection{Deconstructors}
442 The deconstructor is generated similarly to the constructor as the function for generating the constructor is the second argument modulo change in the result type.
443 A deconstructor $C_k$ of type $T$ is defined as a \gls{DSL} function
444 $\mathit{unC_k} \dcolon v~(T~v_0 \ldots v_n) \shortrightarrow (v~a_0 \shortrightarrow \ldots \shortrightarrow v~a_m \shortrightarrow v~b) \shortrightarrow v~b $.
445 In the implementation, \haskellinline{mkCFun} is reused to construct the type of the deconstructor as follows:
446
447 \begin{lstHaskell}
448 mkDeconstructor :: Name -> [VarBangType] -> Q Dec
449 mkDeconstructor n fs = sigD (deconstructorName n)
450 [t|$res -> $(mkCFun fs [t|$v $b|]) -> $v $b|]
451 where b = varT (mkName "b")
452 \end{lstHaskell}
453
454 \subsubsection{Constructor predicates}
455 The last part of the class definition consists of the constructor predicates, a function that checks whether the provided value of type $T$ contains a value with constructor $C_k$.
456 A constructor predicate for constructor $C_k$ of type $T$ is defined as a \gls{DSL} function $\mathit{isC_k} \dcolon v~(T~v_0~\ldots~v_n) \shortrightarrow v~\mathit{Bool}$.
457 A constructor predicate---name prefixed by \haskellinline{is}---is generated for all constructors.
458 They all have the same type:
459
460 \begin{lstHaskell}
461 mkPredicate :: Name -> Q Dec
462 mkPredicate n = sigD (predicateName n) [t|$res -> $v Bool|]
463 \end{lstHaskell}
464
465 \subsection{Interpreter instance generation}\label{sec_fcd:interpreter}
466 Generating the interpreter for the \gls{DSL} means generating the class instance for the \haskellinline{Interpreter} data type using the \haskellinline{instanceD} function.
467 The first argument of the instance is the context, this is left empty.
468 The second argument of the instance is the type, the \haskellinline{Interpreter} data type applied to the class name.
469 Finally, the class function instances are generated using the information derived from the structure of the type.
470 The structure for generating the function instances is very similar to the class definition, only for the function instances of the constructor predicates, the field information is required as well as the constructor names.
471
472 \begin{lstHaskell}
473 mkInterpreter :: Q Dec
474 mkInterpreter = instanceD (cxt [])
475 [t|$(conT (className typeName)) Interpreter|]
476 ( zipWith mkConstructor consNames fields
477 ++ zipWith mkDeconstructor consNames fields
478 ++ zipWith mkPredicate consNames fields)
479 where ...
480 \end{lstHaskell}
481
482 \subsubsection{Constructors}
483 The interpreter is a view on the \gls{DSL} that immediately executes all operations in the \haskellinline{Maybe} monad.
484 Therefore, the constructor function can be implemented by lifting the actual constructor to the \haskellinline{Maybe} type using sequential application.
485 I.e.\ for a constructor $C_k$ this results in the following constructor: \haskellinline{ck a0 ... am = pure Ck <*> a0 <*> ... <*> am}.
486 To avoid accidental shadowing, fresh names for all the arguments are generated.
487 The \haskellinline{ifx} function is used as a shorthand for defining infix expressions\footnotemark.
488 \begin{lrbox}{\LstBox}
489 \begin{lstHaskell}[frame=]
490 ifx :: String -> Q Exp -> Q Exp -> Q Exp
491 ifx op a b = infixE (Just a) (varE (mkName op)) (Just b)\end{lstHaskell}
492 \end{lrbox}
493 \footnotetext{\usebox{\LstBox}}
494
495 \begin{lstHaskell}
496 mkConstructor :: Name -> [VarBangType] -> Q Dec
497 mkConstructor consName fs = do
498 fresh <- sequence [newName "a" | _<-fs]
499 fun (constructorName consName) (map varP fresh)
500 (foldl (ifx "<*>") [|pure $(conE consName)|]
501 (map varE fresh))
502 \end{lstHaskell}
503
504
505 \subsubsection{Deconstructors}
506 In the case of a deconstructor a function with two arguments is created: the object itself (\haskellinline{f}) and the function doing something with the individual fields (\haskellinline{d}).
507 To avoid accidental shadowing first fresh names for the arguments and fields are generated.
508 Then, a function is created with the two arguments.
509 First \haskellinline{d} is evaluated and bound to a host language function that deconstructs the constructor and passes the fields to \haskellinline{f}.
510 I.e.\ a deconstructor function $C_k$ is defined as: \haskellinline{unCk d f = d >>= \\(Ck a0 .. am)->f (pure a0) ... (pure am))}\footnotemark.
511 \footnotetext{
512 The \haskellinline{nameBase :: Name -> String} function from the \gls{TH} library is used to convert a name to a string.
513 }
514
515 \begin{lstHaskell}
516 mkDeconstructor :: Name -> [VarBangType] -> Q Dec
517 mkDeconstructor consName fs = do
518 d <- newName "d"
519 f <- newName "f"
520 fresh <- mapM (newName . nameBase . fst3) fs
521 fun (deconstructorName consName) [varP d, varP f]
522 [|$(varE d) >>= \($(match f))->$(fapp f fresh)|]
523 where fapp f = foldl appE (varE f) . map (\f->[|pure $(varE f)|])
524 match f = pure (ConP consName (map VarP f))
525 \end{lstHaskell}
526
527 \subsubsection{Constructor predicates}
528 Constructor predicates evaluate the argument and make a case distinction on the result to determine the constructor.
529 To be able to generate a valid pattern in the case distinction, the total number of fields must be known.
530 To avoid having to explicitly generate a fresh name for the first argument, a lambda function is used.
531 In general, the constructor selector for $C_k$ results in the following code \haskellinline{isCk f = f >>= \\case Ck _ ... _ -> pure True; _ -> pure False}.
532 Generating this code is done with the following function:
533
534 \begin{lstHaskell}
535 mkPredicate :: Name -> [(Var, Bang, Type)] -> Q Dec
536 mkPredicate n fs = fun (predicateName n) []
537 [|\x->x >>= \case
538 $(conP n [wildP | _<-fs]) -> pure True
539 _ -> pure False|]
540 \end{lstHaskell}
541
542 \subsection{Pretty printer instance generation}\label{sec_fcd:prettyprinter}
543 Generating the printer happen analogously to the interpreter, a class instance for the \haskellinline{Printer} data type using the \haskellinline{instanceD} function.
544
545 \begin{lstHaskell}
546 mkPrinter :: Q Dec
547 mkPrinter = instanceD (cxt []) [t|$(conT (className typeName)) Printer|]
548 ( zipWith mkConstructor consNames fields
549 ++ zipWith mkDeconstructor consNames fields
550 ++ map mkPredicate consNames)
551 \end{lstHaskell}
552
553 To be able to define a printer that is somewhat more powerful, we provide instances for \haskellinline{MonadWriter}; add a state for fresh variables and a context; and define some helper functions the \haskellinline{Printer} datatype.
554 The \haskellinline{printLit} function is a variant of \haskellinline{MonadWriter}s \haskellinline{tell} that prints a literal string, but it can be of any type (it is a phantom type anyway).
555 \haskellinline{printCons} prints a constructor name followed by an expression, it inserts parenthesis only when required depending on the state.
556 \haskellinline{paren} always prints parenthesis around the given printer.
557 \haskellinline{>->} is a variant of the sequence operator \haskellinline{>>} from the \haskellinline{Monad} class, it prints whitespace in between the arguments.
558
559 \begin{lstHaskell}
560 printLit :: String -> Printer a
561 printCons :: String -> Printer a -> Printer a
562 paren :: Printer a -> Printer a
563 (>->) :: Printer a1 -> Printer a2 -> Printer a3
564 pl :: String -> Q Exp
565 \end{lstHaskell}
566
567 \subsubsection{Constructors}
568 For a constructor $C_k$ the printer is defined as: \haskellinline{ck a0 ... am = printCons "Ck" (printLit "" >-> a0 >-> ... >-> am)}.
569 To generate the second argument to the \haskellinline{printCons} function, a fold is used with \haskellinline{printLit ""} as the initial element to account for constructors without any fields as well, e.g.\ \haskellinline{Nil} is translated to \haskellinline{nil = printCons "Nil" (printLit "")}.
570
571 \begin{lstHaskell}
572 mkConstructor :: Name -> [VarBangType] -> Q Dec
573 mkConstructor consName fs = do
574 fresh <- sequence [newName "f" | _<- fs]
575 fun (constructorName consName) (map varP fresh)
576 (pcons `appE` pargs fresh)
577 where pcons = [|printCons $(lift (nameBase consName))|]
578 pargs fresh = foldl (ifx ">->") (pl "")
579 (map varE fresh)
580 \end{lstHaskell}
581
582 \subsubsection{Deconstructors}
583 Printing the deconstructor for $C_k$ is defined as:
584 \begin{lstHaskell}
585 unCk d f
586 = printLit "unCk d"
587 >-> paren (
588 printLit "\(Ck" >-> printLit "a0 ... am" >> printLit ")->"
589 >> f (printLit "a0") ... (printLit "am")
590 )
591 \end{lstHaskell}
592
593 The implementation for this is a little elaborate and it heavily uses the \haskellinline{pl} function, a helper function that translates a string literal \haskellinline{s} to \haskellinline{[\|printLit \$(lift s)\|]}, i.e.\ it lifts the \haskellinline{printLit} function to the \gls{TH} domain.
594
595 \begin{lstHaskell}
596 mkDeconstructor :: Name -> [VarBangType] -> Q Dec
597 mkDeconstructor consName fs = do
598 d <- newName "d"
599 f <- newName "f"
600 fresh <- sequence [newName "a" | _<-fs]
601 fun (deconstructorName consName) (map varP [d, f])
602 [| $(pl (nameBase (deconstructorName consName)))
603 >-> $(pl (nameBase d))
604 >-> paren ($(pl ('\\':'(':nameBase consName))
605 >-> $lam >> printLit ")->"
606 >> $(hoas f))|]
607 where
608 lam = pl $ unwords [nameBase f | (f, _, _)<-fs]
609 hoas f = foldl appE (varE f)
610 [pl (nameBase f) | (f, _, _)<-fs]
611 \end{lstHaskell}
612
613 \subsubsection{Constructor predicates}
614 For the printer, the constructor selector for $C_k$ results in the following code \haskellinline{isCk f = printLit "isCk" >-> f}.
615
616 \begin{lstHaskell}
617 mkPredicate :: Name -> Q Dec
618 mkPredicate n = fun (predicateName n) []
619 [|\x-> $(pl $ nameBase $ predicateName n) >-> x|]
620 \end{lstHaskell}
621
622 \section{Pattern matching}
623 It is possible to construct and deconstruct values from other \gls{DSL} expressions, and to perform tests on the constructor but with a clunky and unwieldy syntax.
624 They have become first-class citizens in a grotesque way.
625 For example, given that we have some language constructs to denote failure and conditionals\footnotemark, writing a list summation function in our \gls{DSL} would be done as follows.
626 For the sake of the argument we take a little shortcut here and assume that the interpretation of the \gls{DSL} supports lazy evaluation by using the host language as a metaprogramming language as well, allowing us to use functions in the host language to construct expressions in the \gls{DSL}.
627
628 \begin{lrbox}{\LstBox}
629 \begin{lstHaskell}[frame=,deletekeywords={if}]
630 class Support v where
631 if' :: v Bool -> v a -> v a -> v a
632 bottom :: String -> v a\end{lstHaskell}
633 \end{lrbox}
634 \footnotetext{\usebox{\LstBox}}
635
636 \begin{lstHaskell}[deletekeywords={if}]
637 program :: (ListDSL v, Support v, ...) => v Int
638 program
639 = fun \sum->(\l->if'(isNil l)
640 (lit 0)
641 (unCons l (\hd tl->hd +. sum tl)))
642 :- sum (cons (lit 38) (cons (lit 4) nil))
643 \end{lstHaskell}
644
645 A similar \gls{HASKELL} implementation is much more elegant and less cluttered because of the support for pattern matching.
646 Pattern matching offers a convenient syntax for doing deconstruction and constructor tests at the same time.
647
648 \begin{lstHaskell}
649 sum :: List Int -> Int
650 sum Nil = 0
651 sum (List hd tl) = hd + sum tl
652
653 main = sum (Cons 38 (Cons 4 Nil))
654 \end{lstHaskell}
655
656 \subsection{Custom quasiquoters}
657 The syntax burden of \glspl{EDSL} can be reduced using quasiquotation.
658 In \gls{TH}, quasiquotation is a convenient way to create \gls{HASKELL} language constructs by entering them verbatim using Oxford brackets.
659 However, it is also possible to create so-called custom quasiquoters \citep{mainland_why_2007}.
660 If the programmer writes down a fragment of code between tagged \emph{Oxford brackets}, the compiler executes the associated quasiquoter functions at compile time.
661 A quasiquoter is a value of the following data type:
662
663 \begin{lstHaskell}
664 data QuasiQuoter = QuasiQuoter
665 { quoteExp :: String -> Q Exp
666 , quotePat :: String -> Q Pat
667 , quoteType :: String -> Q Type
668 , quoteDec :: String -> Q Dec
669 }
670 \end{lstHaskell}
671
672 The code between \emph{dsl} brackets (\haskellinline{[dsl\|...\|]}) is preprocessed by the \haskellinline{dsl} quasiquoter.
673 Because the functions are executed at compile time, errors---thrown using the \haskellinline{MonadFail} instance of the \haskellinline{Q} monad---in these functions result in compile time errors.
674 The \gls{AST} nodes produced by the quasiquoter are inserted into the location and checked as if they were written by the programmer.
675
676 To illustrate writing a custom quasiquoter, we show an implementation of a quasiquoter for binary literals.
677 The \haskellinline{bin} quasiquoter is only defined for expressions and parses subsequent zeros and ones as a binary number and splices it back in the code as a regular integer.
678 Thus, \haskellinline{[bin\|101010\|]} results in the literal integer expression \haskellinline{42}.
679 If an invalid character is used, a compile-time error is shown.
680 The quasiquoter is defined as follows:
681
682 \begin{lstHaskell}
683 bin :: QuasiQuoter
684 bin = QuasiQuoter { quoteExp = parseBin }
685 where
686 parseBin :: String -> Q Exp
687 parseBin s = LitE . IntegerL <$> foldM bindigit 0 s
688
689 bindigit :: Integer -> Char -> Q Integer
690 bindigit acc '0' = pure (2 * acc)
691 bindigit acc '1' = pure (2 * acc + 1)
692 bindigit acc c = fail ("invalid char: " ++ show c)
693 \end{lstHaskell}
694
695 \subsection{Quasiquotation for pattern matching}
696 Custom quasiquoters allow the \gls{DSL} user to enter fragments verbatim, bypassing the syntax of the host language.
697 Pattern matching in general is not suitable for a custom quasiquoter because it does not really fit in one of the four syntactic categories for which custom quasiquoter support is available.
698 However, a concrete use of pattern matching, interesting enough to be beneficial, but simple enough for a demonstration is the \emph{simple case expression}, a case expression that does not contain nested patterns and is always exhaustive.
699 They correspond to multi-way conditional expressions and can thus be converted to \gls{DSL} constructs straightforwardly \citep[\citesection{4.4}]{peyton_jones_implementation_1987}.
700
701 In contrast to the binary literal quasiquoter example, we do not hand craft the parser.
702 The parser combinator library \emph{parsec} is used instead to ease the creation of the parser \citep{leijen_parsec_2001}.
703 First the location of the quasiquoted code is retrieved using the \haskellinline{location} function that operates in the \haskellinline{Q} monad.
704 This location is inserted in the parsec parser so that errors are localised in the source code.
705 Then, the \haskellinline{expr} parser is called that returns an \haskellinline{Exp} in the \haskellinline{Q} monad.
706 The \haskellinline{expr} parser uses parsec's commodity expression parser primitive \haskellinline{buildExpressionParser}.
707 The resulting parser translates the string directly into \gls{TH}'s \gls{AST} data types in the \haskellinline{Q} monad.
708 The most interesting parser is the parser for the case expression that is an alternative in the basic expression parser \haskellinline{basic}.
709 A case expression is parsed when a keyword \haskellinline{case} is followed by an expression that is in turn followed by a non-empty list of matches.
710 A match is parsed when a pattern (\haskellinline{pat}) is followed by an arrow and an expression.
711 The results of this parser are fed into the \haskellinline{mkCase} function that transforms the case into an expression using \gls{DSL} primitives such as conditionals, deconstructors and constructor predicates.
712 The above translates to the following skeleton implementation:
713
714 \begin{lstHaskell}
715 expr :: Parser (Q Exp)
716 expr = buildExpressionParser [...] basic
717 where
718 basic :: Parser (Q Exp)
719 basic = ...
720 <|> mkCase <$ reserved "case" <*> expr
721 <* reserved "of" <*> many1 match
722 <|> ...
723
724 match :: Parser (Q Pat, Q Exp)
725 match = (,) <$> pat <* reserved "->" <*> expr
726
727 pat :: Parser (Q Pat)
728 pat = conP <$> con <*> many var
729 \end{lstHaskell}
730
731 Case expressions are transformed into constructors, deconstructors and constructor predicates, e.g.\ \haskellinline{case e1 of Cons hd tl -> e2; Nil -> e3;} is converted to:
732 \begin{lstHaskell}[deletekeywords={if}]
733 if' (isList e1)
734 (unCons e1 (\hd tl->e2))
735 (if' (isNil e1)
736 (unNil e1 e3)
737 (bottom "Exhausted case"))
738 \end{lstHaskell}
739
740 The \haskellinline{mkCase} (\cref{mkcase_fcd:mkcase}) function transforms a case expression into constructors, deconstructors and constructor predicates.
741 \Cref{mkcase_fcd:eval} first evaluates the patterns.
742 Then the patterns and their expressions are folded using the \haskellinline{mkCase`} function (\cref{mkcase_fcd:pairs}).
743 While a case exhaustion error is used as the initial value, this is never called since all case expressions are exhaustive.
744 For every case, code is generated that checks whether the constructor used in the pattern matches the constructor of the value using constructor predicates (\cref{mkcase_fcd:conspred}).
745 If the constructor matches, the deconstructor (\cref{mkcase_fcd:consdec}) is used to bind all names to the correct identifiers and evaluate the expression.
746 If the constructor does not match, the continuation (\haskellinline{\$rest}) is used (\cref{mkcase_fcd:consstart}).
747
748 \begin{lstHaskell}[numbers=left,deletekeywords={if}]
749 mkCase :: Q Exp -> [(Q Pat, Q Exp)] -> Q Exp [+\label{mkcase_fcd:mkcase} +]
750 mkCase name cases = do
751 pats <- mapM fst cases [+ \label{mkcase_fcd:eval} +]
752 foldr (uncurry mkCase') [|bottom "Exhausted case"|][+ \label{mkcase_fcd:fold}\label{mkcase_fcd:foldinit} +]
753 (zip pats (map snd cases)) [+\label{mkcase_fcd:pairs}+]
754 where
755 mkCase' :: Pat -> Q Exp -> Q Exp -> Q Exp
756 mkCase' (ConP cons fs) e rest
757 = [|if' $pred $then_ $rest|] [+\label{mkcase_fcd:consstart}+]
758 where
759 pred = varE (predicateName cons) `appE` name[+\label{mkcase_fcd:conspred}+]
760 then_ = [|$(varE (deconstructorName cons))[+\label{mkcase_fcd:consdec}+]
761 $name $(lamE [pure f | f<-fs] e)|][+\label{mkcase_fcd:consend}+]
762 \end{lstHaskell}
763
764 Finally, with this quasiquotation mechanism we can define our list summation using a case expression.
765 As a byproduct, syntactic cruft such as the special symbols for the operators and calls to \haskellinline{lit} can be removed as well resulting in the following summation implementation:
766
767 \begin{lstHaskell}
768 program :: (ListDSL v, DSL v, ...) => v Int
769 program
770 = fun \sum->(\l->[dsl|case l of
771 Cons hd tl -> hd + sum tl
772 Nil -> 0|])
773 :- sum (cons (lit 38) (cons (lit 4) nil))
774 \end{lstHaskell}
775
776 \section{Related work}
777 Generic or polytypic programming is a promising technique at first glance for automating the generation of function implementations \citep{lammel_scrap_2003}.
778 However, while it is possible to define a function that works on all first-order types, adding a new function with a new name to the language is not possible.
779 This does not mean that generic programming is not useable for embedding pattern matches.
780 In generic programming, types are represented as sums of products and using this representation it is possible to define pattern matching functions.
781
782 For example, \citet{rhiger_type-safe_2009} showed a method for expressing statically typed pattern matching using typed higher-order functions.
783 If not the host language but the \gls{DSL} contains higher order functions, the same technique could be applied to port pattern matching to \glspl{DSL} though using an explicit sums of products representation.
784 \Citeauthor{atkey_unembedding_2009} describe embedding pattern matching in a \gls{DSL} by giving patterns an explicit representation in the \gls{DSL} by using pairs, sums and injections \citep[\citesection{3.3}]{atkey_unembedding_2009}.
785
786 \Citet{mcdonell_embedded_2022} extends on this idea, resulting in a very similar but different solution to ours.
787 They used the technique that \citeauthor{atkey_unembedding_2009} showed and applied it to deep embedding using the concrete syntax of the host language.
788 The scaffolding---e.g.\ generating the pairs, sums and injections---for embedding is automated using generics but the required pattern synonyms are generated using \gls{TH}.
789 The key difference to our approach is that we specialise the implementation for each of the interpretations instead of providing a general implementation of data type handling operations.
790 Furthermore, our implementation does not require a generic function to trace all constructors, resulting in problems with (mutual) recursion.
791
792 \Citet{young_adding_2021} added pattern matching to a deeply \gls{EDSL} using a compiler plugin.
793 This plugin implements an \haskellinline{externalise :: a -> E a} function that allows lifting all machinery required for pattern matching automatically from the host language to the \gls{DSL}.
794 Under the hood, this function translates the pattern match to constructors, deconstructors, and constructor predicates.
795 The main difference with this work is that it requires a compiler plugin while our metaprogramming approach works on any compiler supporting a metaprogramming system similar to \gls{TH}.
796
797 \subsection{Related work on Template Haskell}
798 Metaprogramming in general is a very broad research topic and has been around for years already.
799 We therefore do not claim an exhaustive overview of related work on all aspects of metaprogramming.
800 However, we have tried to present most research on metaprogramming in \gls{TH}.
801 \Citet{czarnecki_dsl_2004} provide a more detailed comparison of different metaprogramming techniques.
802 They compare staged interpreters, metaprogramming and templating by comparing MetaOCaml, \gls{TH} and \gls{CPP} templates.
803 \gls{TH} has been used to implement related work.
804 They all differ slightly in functionality from our domain and can be divided into several categories.
805
806 \subsubsection{Generating extra code}
807 Using \gls{TH} or other metaprogramming systems it is possible to add extra code to your program.
808 The original \gls{TH} paper showed that it is possible to create variadic functions such as \haskellinline{printf} using \gls{TH} that would be almost impossible to define without \citep{sheard_template_2002}.
809 \Citet{hammond_automatic_2003} used \gls{TH} to generate parallel programming skeletons.
810 In practise, this means that the programmer selects a skeleton and, at compile time, the code is massaged to suit the pattern and information about the environment is inlined for optimisation.
811
812 \Citet{polak_automatic_2006} implemented automatic GUI generation using \gls{TH}.
813 \Citet{duregard_embedded_2011} wrote a parser generator using \gls{TH} and the custom quasiquoting facilities.
814 From a specification of the grammar, given in verbatim using a custom quasiquoter, a parser is generated at compile time.
815 \Citet{shioda_libdsl_2014} used metaprogramming in the D programming language to create a \gls{DSL} toolkit.
816 They also programmatically generate parsers and an interpretation for either compiling or interpreting the \gls{IR}.
817 \Citet{blanchette_liquid_2022} use \gls{TH} to simplify the development of Liquid \gls{HASKELL} proofs.
818 \Citet{folmer_high-level_2022} used \gls{TH} to synthesize C$\lambda$aSH \citep{baaij_digital_2015} \glspl{AST} to be processed.
819 In similar fashion, \citet{materzok_generating_2022} used \gls{TH} to translate YieldFSM programs to {C$\lambda$aSH}.
820
821 \subsubsection{Optimisation}
822 Besides generating code, it is also possible to analyse existing code and perform optimisations.
823 Yet, this is dangerous territory because unwantedly, the semantics of the optimised program may be slightly different from the original program.
824 For example, \citet{lynagh_unrolling_2003} implemented various optimisations in \gls{TH} such as automatic loop unrolling.
825 The compile-time executed functions analyse the recursive function and unroll the recursion to a fixed depth to trade execution speed for program space.
826 Also, \citet{odonnell_embedding_2004} embedded Hydra, a hardware description language, in \gls{HASKELL} utilising \gls{TH}.
827 Using intensional analysis of the \gls{AST}, it detects cycles by labelling nodes automatically so that it can generate \emph{netlists}.
828 The authors mention that alternatively this could have be done using a monad but this hampers equational reasoning greatly, which is a key property of Hydra.
829 Finally, \citet{viera_staged_2018} present a way of embedding attribute grammars in \gls{HASKELL} in a staged fashion.
830 Checking several aspects of the grammar is done at compile time using \gls{TH} while other safety checks are performed at runtime.
831
832 \subsubsection{Compiler extension}
833 Sometimes, expressing certain functionalities in the host languages requires a lot of boilerplate, syntax wrestling, or other pains.
834 Metaprogramming can relieve some of this stress by performing this translation to core constructs automatically.
835 For example, implementing generic---or polytypic--- functions in the compiler is a major effort.
836 \Citet{norell_prototyping_2004} used \gls{TH} to implement the machinery required to implement generic functions at compile time.
837 \Citet{adams_template_2012} also explores implementing generic programming using \gls{TH} to speed things up considerably compared to regular generic programming.
838 \Citet{clifton-everest_embedding_2014} use \gls{TH} with a custom quasiquoter to offer skeletons for workflows and embed foreign function interfaces in a \gls{DSL}.
839 \Citet{eisenberg_promoting_2014} showed that it is possible to programmatically lift some functions from the function domain to the type domain at compile time, i.e.\ type families.
840 Furthermore, \citet{seefried_optimising_2004} argued that it is difficult to do some optimisations in \glspl{EDSL} and that metaprogramming can be of use there.
841 They use \gls{TH} to change all types to unboxed types, unroll loops to a certain depth and replace some expressions by equivalent more efficient ones.
842 \Citet{torrano_strictness_2005} showed that it is possible to use \gls{TH} to perform a strictness analysis and perform let-to-case translation.
843 Both applications are examples of compiler extensions that can be implemented using \gls{TH}.
844 Another example of such a compiler extension is shown by \citet{gill_haskell_2009}.
845 They created a meta level \gls{DSL} to describe rewrite rules on \gls{HASKELL} syntax that are applied on the source code at compile time.
846
847 \subsubsection{Quasiquotation}
848 By means of quasiquotation, the host language syntax that usually seeps through the embedding can be hidden.
849 The original \gls{TH} quasiquotation paper \citep{mainland_why_2007} shows how this can be done for regular expressions, not only resulting in a nicer syntax but syntax errors are also lifted to compile time instead of run time.
850 Also, \citet{kariotis_making_2008} used \gls{TH} to automatically construct monad stacks without having to resort to the monad transformers library which requires advanced type system extensions.
851
852 \Citet{najd_everything_2016} uses the compile time to be able to do normalisation for a \gls{DSL}, dubbing it \glspl{QDSL}.
853 They utilise the quasiquation facilities of \gls{TH} to convert \gls{HASKELL} \gls{DSL} code to constructs in the \gls{DSL}, applying optimisations such as eliminating lambda abstractions and function applications along the way.
854 \Citet{egi_embedding_2022} extended \gls{HASKELL} to support non-free data type pattern matching---i.e.\ data type with no standard form, e.g.\ sets, graphs---using \gls{TH}.
855 Using quasiquotation, they make a complicated embedding of non-linear pattern matching available through a simple lens.
856
857 \subsubsection{Typed Template Haskell}\label{ssec_fcd:typed_template_haskell}
858 \Gls{TTH} is a very recent extension/alternative to normal \gls{TH} \citep{pickering_multi-stage_2019,xie_staging_2022}.
859 Whereas in \gls{TH} you can manipulate arbitrary parts of the syntax tree, add top-level splices of data types, definitions and functions, in \gls{TTH} the programmer can only splice expressions but the \gls{AST} fragments representing the expressions are well-typed by construction instead of untyped.
860
861 \Citet{pickering_staged_2020} implemented staged compilation for the \emph{generics-sop} \citep{de_vries_true_2014} generics library to improve the efficiency of the code using \gls{TTH}.
862 \Citet{willis_staged_2020} used \gls{TTH} to remove the overhead of parsing combinators.
863
864 \section{Discussion}
865 This chapter aims to be twofold, first, it shows how to inherit data types in a \gls{DSL} as first-class citizens by generating the boilerplate at compile time using \gls{TH}.
866 Secondly, it introduces the reader to \gls{TH} by giving an overview of the literature in which \gls{TH} is used and provides a gentle introduction by explaining the case study.
867
868 \Gls{FP} languages are especially suitable for embedding \glspl{DSL} but adding user-defined data types is still an issue.
869 The tagless-final style of embedding offers great modularity, extensibility and flexibility.
870 However, user-defined data types are awkward to handle because the built-in operations on them---construction, deconstruction and constructor tests---are not inherited from the host language.
871 We showed how to create a \gls{TH} function that will splice the required class definitions and view instances.
872 The code dataset also contains an implementation for defining field selectors and provides an implementation for a compiler (see \cref{chp:research_data_management}).
873 Furthermore, by writing a custom quasiquoter, pattern matches in natural syntax can be automatically converted to the internal representation of the \gls{DSL}, thus removing the syntax burden of the facilities.
874 The use of a custom quasiquoter does require the \gls{DSL} programmer to write a parser for their \gls{DSL}, i.e.\ the parser is not inherited from the host language as is often the case in an embedded \gls{DSL}.
875 However, by making use of modern parser combinator libraries, this overhead is limited and errors are already caught at compilation.
876
877 \subsection{Future work}
878 For future work, it would be interesting to see how generating boilerplate for user-defined data types translates from shallow embedding to deep embedding.
879 In deep embedding, the language constructs are expressed as data types in the host language.
880 Adding new constructs, e.g.\ constructors, deconstructors, and constructor tests, for the user-defined data type therefore requires extending the data type.
881 Techniques such as data types \`a la carte \citep{swierstra_data_2008} and open data types \citep{loh_open_2006} show that it is possible to extend data types orthogonally but whether metaprogramming can still readily be used is something that needs to be researched.
882 It may also be possible to implemented (parts) of the boilerplate generation using \gls{TTH} (see \cref{ssec_fcd:typed_template_haskell}) to achieve more confidence in the type correctness of the implementation.
883
884 Another direction of research is to try to find the limits of this technique regarding richer data type definitions.
885 It would be interesting to see whether it is possible to apply the technique on data types with existentially quantified type variables or full-fledged generalised \glspl{ADT} \citep{hinze_fun_2003}.
886 It is not possible to straightforwardly lift the deconstructors to type classes because existentially quantified type variables will escape.
887 Rank-2 polymorphism offers tools to define the types in such a way that this is not the case anymore.
888 However, implementing compiling views on the \gls{DSL} is complicated because it would require inventing values of an existentially quantified type variable to satisfy the type system which is difficult.
889
890 Finally, having to write a parser for the \gls{DSL} is extra work.
891 Future research could determine whether it is possible to generate this using \gls{TH} as well.
892
893 \input{subfilepostamble}
894 \end{document}