Build System

In this case study, we start reproducing the build systems from:

“Build Systems à la Carte” Andrey Mokhov, Neil Mitchell, Simon Peyton Jones ICFP ‘18

As usual, we start with the module name and imports.

module examples/casestudies/buildsystem

This example revolves around a single effect: Need.

type Key = String
type Val = Int

effect need(key: Key): Val

The need effect operation requests the value for a specific key. In this example keys are strings and values are integers.

A build system defines rules that specify how to build the values for each key. The values for some keys are inputs. For those we have a second effect, needInput.

effect needInput(key: Key): Val

With these two effect operations, we can express the rules for the spreadsheet example from the paper. We define the rules for cells "B1" and "B2" and treats the other cells as inputs.

Here is the spreadsheet example from “Build systems ala Carte”, modeling the spreadsheet:

def example1(key: Key): Val / { need, needInput } = {
    println(key);
    if (key == "B1") do need("A1") + do need("A2")
    else if (key == "B2") do need("B1") * 2
    else do needInput(key)
}

This example explains how to get the value for a given key. It uses the need operation when it needs the result for another key and it uses the needInput operation when it needs an input.

A build system is a handler for the need effect.

def build(target: Key) { tasks: Key => Val / { need } }: Val / {} =
    try { tasks(target) }
    with need { requestedKey =>
        resume(build(requestedKey) { k => tasks(k) })
    }

This handler function recursively calls itself when a key is needed. It duplicates work for the same key.

Another handler would memoize keys once they are built to avoid duplication.

effect keyNotFound(key: Key): Nothing

type Store = List[(Key,Val)]

def find(store: Store, key: Key): Val / keyNotFound = {
    store match {
        case Nil() => do keyNotFound(key)
        case Cons((k, v), xs) => if (k == key) { v } else { find(xs, key) }
    }
}

For this we need a store, which we represent as a list of pairs of keys and values.

The memo handler function tries to look up the needed key in the store. If the key is found it returns the associated value. Otherwise it itself uses need, stores the result, and returns the value.

def memo[R] { prog: => R / { need } }: R / { need } = {
    var store: Store = Nil();
    try {
        prog()
    } with need { (key) =>
        try {
            resume(find(store, key))
        } with keyNotFound { (k) =>
            val v = do need(k);
            store = Cons((k, v), store);
            resume(v)
        }
    }
}

A second example needs the same key twice.

// needing the same key twice
def example2(key: Key) = {
    println(key);
    if (key == "B1") do need("A1") + do need("A2")
    else if (key == "B2") do need("B1") * do need("B1")
    else do needInput(key)
}

When we run this example without memoization we will see "B1", "A1", and "A2" printed twice. When we add the memo handler function we do not as the result is reused.

Finally, to supply the inputs, we have a handler for the needInput effect.

def supplyInput[R](store: Store) { prog: => R / { needInput } }: R / { keyNotFound } = {
    try { prog() } with needInput { (key) => resume(find(store, key)) }
}

The main function runs all examples.

def main() = {
    val inputs = [("A1", 10), ("A2", 20)];
    try {
        val result1 = supplyInput(inputs) { build ("B2") { (key) => example1(key) } };
        println(result1);
        println("");
        val result2 = supplyInput(inputs) { build ("B2") { (key) => example2(key) } };
        println(result2);
        println("");
        val result3 = supplyInput(inputs) { build ("B2") { (key) => memo { example2(key) } } };
        println(result3)
    } with keyNotFound { (key) => println("Key not found: " ++ key) }
}