symantic/symantic.cabal

   1 author: Julien Moutinho <julm+symantic@autogeree.net>
   2 bug-reports: Julien Moutinho <julm+symantic@autogeree.net>
   3 build-type: Simple
   4 cabal-version: >= 1.24
   5 category: Language
   6 description:
   7  __Description__
   8  .
   9  Library for composing, typing, compiling, transforming and interpreting
  10  a custom DSL (Domain-Specific Language) expressing a subset of GHC's Haskell.
  11  Its main goal is to enable the runtime handling of terms typed
  12  according to some compile-time defined types.
  13  The idea being that the more complex logic shall remain coded in Haskell
  14  and then this library used to project an interface into a DSL
  15  giving runtime users the flexibility to write simpler programs suited to their needs.
  16  .
  17  Typical use cases:
  18  .
  19  * Enabling runtime users to enter some Haskell-like expressions
  20    without using all the weight and slowness of GHC
  21    at runtime (eg. by using <https://hackage.haskell.org/package/hint hint>).
  22  * Limiting those expressions to be built from well-controlled expressions only.
  23  * Run some analyzes/optimizations on those well-controlled expressions.
  24  .
  25  __Warning__
  26  .
  27  Please be aware that despite its using of powerful ideas from clever people,
  28  this remains a fund-less single-person experimental library.
  29  Meaning that it is all but heavily tested and documented,
  30  does not have a strong commitment to preserving backward compatibility,
  31  and can just die without notice.
  32  Its version follows the <http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Package_versioning_policy PVP>,
  33  so you may want to use upper-bounds in @build-depends@.
  34  This said, hope you'll enjoy the tool :)
  35  .
  36  __Usage__
  37  .
  38  Reading the boring @Test.hs@ files
  39  of <https://hackage.haskell.org/package/symantic-lib symantic-lib>
  40  should give you enough examples
  41  to understand how to use this library,
  42  and reading some of the repetitively boring
  43  and painfully repetitive @Lib/*.hs@ files
  44  of <https://hackage.haskell.org/package/symantic-lib symantic-lib>
  45  should give you some templates and the general pattern
  46  to let you extend this library with your own symantics.
  47  .
  48  The @Test.hs@ files use <https://hackage.haskell.org/package/megaparsec megaparsec> as parser
  49  and a default grammar somehow sticking to Haskell's, but staying context-free
  50  (so in particular: insensitive to the indentation).
  51  This grammar, itself written as a symantic embedded DSL,
  52  can be reused to build another one,
  53  is not bound to a specific parser,
  54  and can produce its EBNF rendition.
  55  .
  56  __Main ideas__
  57  .
  58  * __Symantic DSL__.
  59    To encode terms in the <http://okmij.org/ftp/tagless-final/ Tagless-Final> way
  60    (aka. the /symantic/ way)
  61    i.e. to use a /class/ to encode the /syntax/ of terms (eg. 'Sym_Bool')
  62    and /class instances/ on a dedicated type to encode their /semantics/
  63    (eg. @(Sym_Bool HostI)@ interprets a term as a value of its type
  64    in the host language (Haskell here),
  65    or @(Sym_Bool TextI)@ interprets a term as a textual rendition, etc.).
  66
  67    DSL are then composed by selecting those symantic /classes/.
  68    When using symantics for an embedded DSL
  69    those /classes/ are all inferred by GHC from the terms used,
  70    provided that the @NoMonomorphismRestriction@ extension is on.
  71    Otherwise, when using symantics for a non-embedded DSL
  72    — the whole point of this library — the /classes/ composing the DSL
  73    are selected manually at GHC's compile-time,
  74    through the /type-level list/ given to 'compile'.
  75
  76    Moreover, the terms are parameterized by the type of the value they encode,
  77    in order to get the same type safety as with plain Haskell values.
  78    Hence the symantic /classes/ have the higher kind: @((* -> *) -> Constraint)@
  79    instead of just @(* -> Constraint)@.
  80
  81    Amongst those symantics, 'Sym_Lambda' introduces /lambda abstractions/ by an higher-order approach,
  82    meaning that they directly reuse GHC's internal machinery
  83    to abstract or instantiate variables,
  84    which I think is by far the most efficient and simplest way of doing it
  85    (no DeBruijn encoding nor <https://hackage.haskell.org/package/bound bound>'s monads).
  86
  87  * __Singleton for any type__.
  88    To typecheck terms using a @(Type cs h)@ @GADT@ which acts
  89    as a /singleton type/ for any Haskell type @h@
  90    buildable by composing the /type constants/ @cs@,
  91    each one wrapped inside a @Proxy@ to fit into a common /type-level list/
  92    (eg. @cs ~ [Proxy Bool, Proxy (->), Proxy Eq]@).
  93
  94  * __Extensible data type__.
  95    To inject a type into a /type-level list/
  96    or project a /type-level list/ onto a type,
  97    to compose an /extensible data type/
  98    (eg. the 'Token' @GADT@ gathering the 'TokenT' /data instances/,
  99    that a parser can build and then give to 'compile').
 100    This type-level programming requires @UndecidableInstances@,
 101    but not @OverlappingInstances@.
 102
 103    There is a similarity with
 104    <http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0956796808006758 Data types à la carte>
 105    (see for instance <https://hackage.haskell.org/package/compdata compdata>
 106    or <https://hackage.haskell.org/package/syntactic syntactic>).
 107    Those also enable to compose a DSL using some machinery
 108    based upon (co)free(r) (co)monads and (cata|ana)morphisms.
 109    Which library fits best your problem domain and brain is for you to judge :)
 110    On that topic, see also:
 111    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaAKRxO21fU Stop Paying for Free Monads>.
 112
 113    Here, I just came up using /type-level lists/ by hacking
 114    <https://hackage.haskell.org/package/glambda glambda>'s @Elem@.
 115
 116  * __Extensible class__.
 117    To recurse on a /type-level list/ through
 118    /class instances/ to compose an /extensible class/
 119    (eg. 'CompileR' gathering the 'CompileI' /class instances/,
 120    or the more tricky 'TermO' /type-level list-zipper/
 121    gathering 'Sym_of_Iface' /class instances/
 122    while providing in scope the current 'Sym_of_Iface'
 123    within each 'TermO' built in a 'CompileI' /class instance/).
 124  .
 125  __Main extensions__
 126  .
 127  * @GADTs@ for knowing types by pattern-matching terms,
 128    or building terms by using type classes.
 129  * @Rank2Types@ for parsing @GADT@s.
 130  * @TypeInType@ (introduced in GHC 8.0.1)
 131    for 'Type' to also bind a kind equality for the type @h@ it encodes.
 132    Which makes the /type application/ (':$')
 133    give us an /arrow kind/ for the Haskell /type constructor/
 134    it applies an Haskell type to, releaving me from tricky workarounds.
 135  * @ConstraintKinds@ for @cs@ to contain 'Constraint's,
 136    or defining /type synonym/ of /type classes/,
 137    or merging /type constraints/.
 138  * @DataKinds@ for type-level data structures (eg. /type-level lists/).
 139  * @TypeFamilies@ for type-level programming.
 140  * @UndecidableInstances@ for type-level programming
 141    that may never terminate.
 142  * @PolyKinds@ for avoiding a lot of uses of 'Proxy'.
 143  * @TypeApplications@ for having a more concise syntax
 144    to build 'Type' (eg. @ty \@Bool@).
 145  * @DefaultSignatures@ for providing identity transformations of terms,
 146    and thus avoid boilerplate code when a transformation
 147    does not need to alter all semantics.
 148    As explained in <https://ro-che.info/articles/2016-02-03-finally-tagless-boilerplate Reducing boilerplate in finally tagless style>.
 149  .
 150  __Bugs__
 151  .
 152  Your comments, problem reports, or questions are welcome!
 153  .
 154  You have my email address, so… just send me some emails :]
 155  .
 156  __To do__
 157  .
 158  * Study to which point /type inferencing/ is doable,
 159    so that it would improve the current /type checking/,
 160    and remove some type annotations in the DSL.
 161    Currently each /lambda abstraction/ must have its variable explicitely typed,
 162    and terms must be called with enough arguments to typecheck,
 163    be it term arguments (for instance
 164    @(+) :: Num a => a -> a -> a@ needs at least one term argument to check @Num a@)
 165    or type arguments (for instance
 166    @return :: Monad m => a -> m a@ needs a type argument to check @Monad m@).
 167  * Study to which point error messages can be improved.
 168  * A lot of common terms should be added in @Lib.*@ modules.
 169    Maybe as separate packages to limit dependencies.
 170  * No transformation is implemented so far,
 171    maybe there should be some, at least as examples
 172    to demonstrate their power.
 173  * Study where to put @INLINE@, @INLINEABLE@ or @SPECIALIZE@ pragmas.
 174 extra-source-files:
 175 extra-tmp-files:
 176 -- homepage:
 177 license: GPL-3
 178 license-file: COPYING
 179 maintainer: Julien Moutinho <julm+symantic@autogeree.net>
 180 name: symantic
 181 stability: experimental
 182 synopsis: Library for Typed Tagless-Final Higher-Order Composable DSL
 183 tested-with: GHC==8.0.2
 184 -- PVP:  +-+------- breaking API changes
 185 --       | | +----- non-breaking API additions
 186 --       | | | +--- code changes with no API change
 187 version: 4.1.0.20170208
 188
 189 Source-Repository head
 190   location: git://git.autogeree.net/symantic
 191   type:     git
 192
 193 Library
 194   default-extensions:
 195     DataKinds
 196     DefaultSignatures
 197     FlexibleContexts
 198     FlexibleInstances
 199     InstanceSigs
 200     LambdaCase
 201     MultiParamTypeClasses
 202     NamedFieldPuns
 203     OverloadedStrings
 204     Rank2Types
 205     ScopedTypeVariables
 206     StandaloneDeriving
 207     TupleSections
 208     TypeApplications
 209     TypeFamilies
 210     TypeOperators
 211   ghc-options: -Wall
 212                -fwarn-incomplete-patterns
 213                -fno-warn-tabs
 214                -fprint-explicit-kinds
 215   default-language: Haskell2010
 216   exposed-modules:
 217     Language.Symantic
 218     Language.Symantic.Compiling
 219     Language.Symantic.Compiling.Term
 220     Language.Symantic.Compiling.Term.Grammar
 221     Language.Symantic.Helper.Data.Type.List
 222     Language.Symantic.Helper.Data.Type.Peano
 223     Language.Symantic.Interpreting
 224     Language.Symantic.Interpreting.Dup
 225     Language.Symantic.Interpreting.Host
 226     Language.Symantic.Interpreting.Text
 227     Language.Symantic.Parsing
 228     Language.Symantic.Parsing.Token
 229     Language.Symantic.Transforming
 230     Language.Symantic.Transforming.Trans
 231     Language.Symantic.Typing
 232     Language.Symantic.Typing.Constant
 233     Language.Symantic.Typing.Constraint
 234     Language.Symantic.Typing.Family
 235     Language.Symantic.Typing.Kind
 236     Language.Symantic.Typing.Type
 237   build-depends:
 238     base >= 4.6 && < 5
 239     , containers
 240     , ghc-prim
 241     , mono-traversable
 242     , symantic-grammar
 243     , transformers
 244     , text