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docs/pdds/pdd21_namespaces.pod - Parrot Namespaces
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A High Level Language, such as Perl, Python, or Tcl, in contrast to PIR, which is a low-class language.
The current namespace at runtime is the namespace associated with the currently executing subroutine. Pasm assigns each subroutine a namespace when compilation of the subroutine begins. Don't change the associated namespace of a subroutine unless you're prepared for weird consequences.
(Pasm also has its own separate concept of current namespace which is used to initialize the runtime current namespace as well as determine where to store compiled symbols.)
In this document, "::" indicates namespace nesting. For example, "a::b" means "the namespace 'b' inside the namespace 'a'". In Parrot, nesting is actually denoted by other means (e.g. multidimensional hash keys), but writing ["a"; "b"] is harder to both write and read.
There are many different ways to implement a namespace and Parrot's target languages display a wide variety of them. By implementing an API, it should be possible to allow interoperability while still allowing each one choose the best internal representation.
_tcl
namespace.Most languages leave their symbols plain, which makes lookups quite straightforward. Others use sigils or other mangling techniques, complicating the problem of interoperability.
Parrot namespaces assist with interoperability by providing two interface subsets: the raw interface and the typed interface.
Each HLL may, when working with its own namespace objects, use the raw interface, which allows direct naming in the native style of the namespace's HLL.
This interface consists of standard Parrot hash interface, with all its keys, values, lookups, deletions, etc. Just treat the namespace like a hash. (It probably is one, really, deep down.)
It's kind of an anticlimax, isn't it, giving a fancy name like "raw interface" to a hash? "It's a just a hash," you say. Oh well. I'll try to live with the shame.
When a given namespace's HLL is either different from the current HLL or unknown, an HLL should generally use only the language-agnostic namespace interface. This interface isolates HLLs from each others' naming quirks. It consists of add_foo(), find_foo(), and del_foo() methods, for values of "foo" including "sub" (something executable), "namespace" (something in which to find more names), and "var" (anything).
NOTE: The job of the typed interface is to bridge naming differences, and only naming differences. Therefore:
(1) It does not enforce, nor even notice, the interface requirements of "sub" or "namespace": e.g. execution of add_sub("foo", $P0) does not automatically guarantee that $P0 is an invokable subroutine; and: (2) It does not prevent overwriting one type with another
our $A
and our @A
.use tcl:Some::Module 'c*'
will import all the commands that start with 'c' from the given Tcl namespace into the current Perl namespace.
Regardless of whether 'c*' is a Perl 6 style export pattern,
it is a valid Tcl export pattern.These methods don't belong to either the typed or the generic interface.
perl5.load_library(["Some", "Module"])
.Some information must be available about subroutines to implement the correct behavior about namespaces.
$P0 = split "::", "Foo::Bar"
$P1 = get_namespace $P0
$P1 = get_namespace ["Foo"; "Bar"]
In order to make this work, Parrot must somehow figure out what type of namespace PMC to create.
The default namespace PMC will implement Parrot's current behavior.
This perl:
#!/usr/bin/perl
package Foo;
$x = 5;
should map roughly to this PIR:
.HLL "Perl5", "perl5_group"
.namespace [ "Foo" ]
.sub main :main
$P0 = new .PerlInt
$P0 = 5
store_global "$x", $P0
.end
In this case, the main
sub would be tied to Perl5 by the .HLL
directive, so a Perl5 namespace would be created.
Consider the following Perl5 program:
#!/usr/bin/perl
$a = 'x';
${"Foo::$a"} = 5;
The Foo:: namespace is created at run-time (without any optimizations). In these cases, Parrot should create the namespace based on the HLL of the PIR subroutine that calls the store function.
.HLL "Perl5", "perl5_group"
.sub main :main
# $a = 'x';
$P0 = new .PerlString
$P0 = "x"
store_global "$a", a
# ${"Foo::$a"} = 5;
$P1 = new PerlString
$P1 = "Foo::"
$P1 .= $P0
$S0 = $P1
$P2 = split "::", $S0
$S0 = pop $P2
$S0 = "$" . $S0
$P3 = new .PerlInt
$P3 = 5
store_global $P2, $S0, $P3
.end
In this case, store_global
should see that it was called from "main", which is in a Perl5 namespace, so "Foo::" should be also created as a Perl 5 namespace.
Perl6 may wish to be able to access the namespace as a hash with sigils. That is certainly possible, even with subroutines and methods. It's not important that a HLL use the typed namespace API, it is only important that it provides it for others to use.
So Perl6 may implement get_keyed and set_keyed VTABLE slots that allow the namespace PMC to be used as a hash. The find_sub
method would, in this case, would append a "&" sigil to the front of the sub/method name and search in the internal hash.
Since functions and variables overlap in Python's namespaces, when exporting to another HLL's namespace, the Python namespace PMC's export_to
method should use introspection to determine whether x
should be added using add_var
or add_sub
. $I0 = does $P0, "Sub"
may be enough to decide correctly.
Since Python's subroutines and namespaces are just variables (the namespace collides there), the Python PMC's find_var
method may return subroutines as variables.
Perl:
#!/usr/bin/perl6
sub foo {...}
%Foo::{"&bar"} = &foo;
PIR:
.sub main :main
$P0 = find_name "&foo"
$P1 = get_namespace ["perl6"; "Foo"]
# A smart perl6 compiler would emit this,
# because it knows that Foo is a perl6 namespace:
# $P1["&bar"] = $P0
# But a naive one would emit this:
$P1.add_sub("bar", $P0)
end
.end
.sub foo
...
.end
Perl:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use tcl:Some::Module 'w*';
write("this is a tcl command");
PIR:
.sub main :main
.local pmc tcl
tcl = compreg "tcl"
tcl.load_library("Some", "Module")
$P0 = get_namespace
$P1 = get_namespace ["tcl"; "Some"; "Module"]
$P1.export_to($P0, 'w*')
write("this is a tcl command")
end
.end
None.
None.
None.
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