Pattern matching on Java objects with Tom

This post presents a quick overview of the mechanism that Tom provides to enable pattern matching on plain Java objects.

Mappings

Tom performs pattern matching on special data structures defined using Gom. However there's a mechanism that allows the mapping parts of an object to data structure that could be used to perform pattern matching.

In section 8.1 Hand-written mappings, a nice explanation of this mechanism . Also there's a very interesting video available from Tom's site where Tom is used to manipulate Java Persistence API objects.

Mappings for java.io.File

For this example we will create mappings for the java.io.File class . The first step is to create the sort definition for the File class.

%typeterm FileSystemElement {
   implement { java.io.File }
   is_sort(t) { t instanceof java.io.File }
   equals(t1,t2) { t1.equals(t2) }
}

Inside of Tom constructs the sort that represents files will be called FileSystemElement. Basic operations must be provided in order to specify: the class that is being mapped (implement), a predicate to determine if is a valid element (is_sort) and an equals criteria (equals).

Now we need to create a operator or constructor that represents files. Here's the definition for that element.

%op FileSystemElement File(name:String, parent:FileSystemElement) { 
   is_fsym(t) { (t instanceof java.io.File) &&  
                ((java.io.File)t).isFile()  }
   get_slot(name, t) { t.getName() }    
   get_slot(parent, t) { t.getParentFile() }
   make(name,parent) { new java.io.File(parent,name) } 
}

This %op definition says that we're defining a File which belongs to the FileSystemElement sort. In particular we're going to use this definition to represent java.io.File instances that refer to a file, the is_fsym definition verifies this. Now we define two slots one for the name of the file and another to the java.io.File definition of the parent. Finally a make allows us to use the backquote(`) syntax to create instances of File.

A use of this definition is the following:

File f = new File("/tmp/test.txt");

%match(f) {
  File(name,parent) -> {
     System.out.println("File name "+`name);
     System.out.println("Parent "+`parent+" "+`parent.getClass());
  }
}

By running this program we get:

File name test.txt
Parent /tmp class java.io.File

Notice that by calling getClass on parent we get java.io.File.

Mapping for directories

Using handwritten mappings allows you to expose only the parts of an object that are interesting for a certain problem. This powerful notion is present in other languages like Scala with the use of Extractors or F# with Active Patterns and originally from Views in Haskell.

For example now we're going to create a definition that represents directories which is another mapping from java.io.File.

%op FileSystemElement Directory(name:String,
                                parent:FileSystemElement, 
                                children:Children ) 
{ 
  is_fsym(t) { (t instanceof java.io.File) &&  
                ((java.io.File)t).isDirectory() }
  get_slot(name, t) { t.getName() }    
  get_slot(parent, t) { t.getParentFile() }
  get_slot(children, t) { createFromArray(t.listFiles()) }      
  make(name,parent, children) { new java.io.File(parent,name) } 
}

Notice that the is_fsym definition checks identifies a java.io.File instance that refers to a directory. Also notices that for this definition we're exposing the child files and directories.

In order to expose a sequence of elements we need to create a separate mapping. For example the above example mentions the Children sort which is defined as:

%typeterm Children {
   implement { java.util.ArrayList<java.io.File> }
   is_sort(t) { t instanceof java.util.ArrayList }
   equals(t1,t2) { t1.equals(t2) }
}

%oparray Children Children(FileSystemElement*) {
   is_fsym(t) { t instanceof ArrayList }
   get_element(l,n) { l.get(n) }
   get_size(l)      { l.size() }
   make_empty(n)    { new ArrayList<java.io.File>(n) }
   make_append(e,l) { addToFileArrayList(e,l) }
}

Notice that the %oparray definition contains special mapping for array-like collections. In section 8.1.4 Using list-matching there's more information about this element and about the %oplist element which allows the mapping of list-like collections.

The addToFileArrayList is a static method that creates an ArrayList from the result of calling java.io.File.listFiles().

Example: listing a directory

With the definitions available above we can write a small program that lists a directory:

File homeDirectory = new File("/home/ldfallas");

%match(homeDirectory) {
   Directory(_,_,Children(_*,f,_*)) -> {
     %match(f) {
        File(name,_) -> { System.out.println("File: "+`name); }
        Directory(name,_,_) -> { System.out.println("Directory: "+`name); }
       }
   }
}

As explained in a previous post, since Children(_*,f,_*) has no restriction on f then the body of the case will be executed for all possible child file of the specified directory.


Example: Files with same name

The following example tries to find two files stored in two separate directories in the same level.

...
%match(homeDirectory) {
   Directory(_,_,Children(_*,Directory(dir1,_,Children(_*,File(name,_),_*)),
                        _*,Directory(dir2,_,Children(_*,File(name,_),_*)),
                        _*)) -> {

     System.out.println("File name "+`name);
     System.out.println(`dir1);
     System.out.println(`dir2);
  }
}

Notice that this little example will show all the pairs of files with the same name stored in two different directories at the same level.