farolero

farolero masc. n.

Historical Spanish, meaning "lamplighter", e.g. "A lamplighter claimed to have seen Jack the Ripper on this street last night."

Latest News

With the release of 1.5.0, farolero now supports Babashka!

Introduction

Error handling in Clojure is not yet a solved problem. Each method of handling errors commonly used comes with downsides. Representing error states with nil is convenient for code structure, but prevents detailed error information from being conveyed to the program outside of logs. The either monad requires special syntax to be convenient for use and offers no options for error recovery. Exceptions are the default way to handle errors in the JVM, but Clojure has no easy way to extend the exception mechanism with new types, limiting how much control you have over which errors you handle without re-throwing. Condition libraries like special give the programmer tools for reporting errors but limited options in recovery, or break in multithreaded contexts.

This library implements an improved version of these conditions, very close to the spec defined for Common Lisp's conditions and restarts. This method of handling errors follows the Clojure philosophy of decomplection by separating error handling into three parts: reporting, reconciliation, and recovery.

Installation

The library is available on Clojars. Just add the following to your deps.edn file in the :deps key.

{org.suskalo/farolero {:mvn/version "1.5.0"}}

If you use clj-kondo then you may also want to import the configuration and hooks included with the library. This can be done by running the following command:

$ clj-kondo --copy-configs --dependencies --lint "$(clojure -Spath)"
Imported config to .clj-kondo/org.suskalo/farolero.

ClojureScript Support

As of right now, the only thing that ClojureScript lacks significant support for is the interactive debugger, because ClojureScript environments vary so much from project to project. That said, you can still write your own custom debuggers, but assert and check-type won't fully integrate with them at the moment.

Usage

In this library there are three major components: conditions, handlers, and restarts. Each one represents one of the three parts error handling is split into when using this library. In places where an error might arise, you bind restarts, named sections of code which provide ways to recover from an error.

If you're an experienced Common Lisper, then most of this should be review, but you may wish to skim further ahead to the code examples to see the few places where the syntax differs.

In the examples below, you can try them out in a repl after the following require:

(require '[farolero.core :as far :refer [handler-bind handler-case restart-case]])

Handlers

Handlers are functions that are run when an error is encountered to decide how to recover from the situation.

(handler-case (far/signal ::signal)
  (::signal [condition]
    (println condition)
    (println "Handled the signal!")
    :result))
;; :user/signal
;; Handled the signal!
;; => :result

The macro handler-case executes the expression it's passed in a context where the handlers below are called when a condition is signaled. In general, handler-case is used when you can replace the entire expression wholesale with the result from the handler. When a condition with a handler is signaled, control flow is immediately passed out of the expression and to the handler.

(handler-case (do (far/signal ::signal)
                  (println "Never reached"))
  (::signal [condition]
    (println "Handled the signal!")
    :result))
;; Handled the signal!
;; => :result

This construct acts very similarly to Java's throw and catch. However, additional arguments beyond the condition can be passed to the handler.

(handler-case (far/signal ::signal "world" :other-argument)
  (::signal [condition s v]
    (println "Hello," s)
    (prn v)))
;; Hello, world
;; :other-argument
;; => nil

This works through the entire dynamic scope of the expression passed, so the signal may be made arbitrarily deep in the stack.

(defn f
  []
  (far/signal ::signal :result))

(defn g
  []
  (f))

(handler-case (g)
  (::signal [condition res]
    res))
;; => :result

If a condition is signaled and there's no handler bound, then signal will return nil.

(far/signal ::signal)
;; => nil

Conditions

Conditions are the values that get signaled. Namespaced keywords are used for the default signals, but they aren't the only values which can be used. Any object except for an un-namespaced keyword may be used as a signal.

(handler-case (far/signal (RuntimeException. "An exception"))
  (Exception [ex]
    (println (.getMessage ex))
    :result))
;; An exception
;; => :result

This example also shows that handlers are applied with regard for inheritance. This inheritance is both through Java's inheritance hierarchy, and also by Clojure's default hierarchy.

(handler-case (far/signal ::far/simple-condition)
  (::far/condition [condition]
    :result))
;; => :result

When you call signal with any value, farolero will ensure that it derives from :farolero.core/condition, at least indirectly. If the value derives from :farolero.core/condition indirectly, then nothing changes.

(contains? (ancestors ::random-condition) ::far/condition)
;;  => false
(handler-case (far/signal ::random-condition)
  (::far/condition [condition]
    :result))
;; => :result
(contains? (ancestors ::random-condition) ::far/condition)
;; => true

There are multiple ways to signal conditions with farolero. The way to signal conditions we've used so far is signal. In addition there are warn, error, and cerror (we'll talk about cerror when we discuss restarts).

(handler-case (far/error ::random-error)
  (::far/error [condition]
    :result))
;; => :result

Conditions used for warn are made to derive :farolero.core/warning, and for error and cerror the conditions derive :farolero.core/error. All Java classes that extend from Exception also derive :farolero.core/error, and the same for js/Error in ClojureScript.

When you know the return value to be used as a replacement for the whole expression, handler-case is the way to bind a handler. However, in some cases you may not want to abort execution of the expression in order to handle the condition. In these cases, handler-bind is more appropriate.

(handler-bind [::signal (fn [condition]
                          (println "In the condition handler."))]
  (far/signal ::signal))
;; In the condition handler.
;; => nil

If a handler bound in this way returns normally (rather than via e.g. throw), then signal (and the other condition signaling functions) will keep searching for another handler which applies.

(handler-bind [::far/condition (fn [condition]
                                          (println "In outer handler"))]
  (handler-bind [::signal (fn [condition]
                            (println "In inner handler"))]
    (far/signal ::signal)))
;; In inner handler
;; In outer handler
;; => nil

If calling warn and all the handlers return normally, or no handler is found, then the condition is printed to *err*.

(far/warn "something went weird")
;; WARNING: something went weird
;; => nil

Restarts

Handlers give you a method of reacting to conditions when they are signaled. Restarts provide a method of resuming the computation based on what environment it's executing in. The macro restart-case mirrors handler-case, but with invoke-restart taking the place of signal.

(restart-case (far/invoke-restart ::restart)
  (::restart []
    (println "Invoked the restart!")
    :result))
;; Invoked the restart!
;; => :result

Unlike handlers, there is no inheritance between different restarts. Jumping to a particular restart must be done by exact name, and only keywords can be used as restart names.

Just like handler-case, invoking a restart in restart-case immediately unwinds to outside of the expression and invokes the restart.

(restart-case (do (far/invoke-restart ::restart)
                  (println "Never reached"))
  (::restart []
    (println "Invoked the restart!")
    :result))
;; Invoked the restart!
;; => :result

The warn and cerror functions each bind a restart that can be used by handlers for the condition which gets signaled. The warn function binds :farolero.core/muffle-warning (which can be called by the muffle-warning function) which prevents the warning from being printed and continues execution of the program.

(handler-bind [::warning (fn [condition]
                           (far/muffle-warning))]
  (far/warn ::warning))
;; => nil

The cerror function binds a :farolero.core/continue restart (which can be called by the continue function) which continues as if the error never happened. The first argument to cerror is text that describes what ignoring the error will do, and is used for interactive debugging.

(handler-bind [::error (fn [condition]
                         (far/continue))]
  (far/cerror "Ignore the error" ::error))
;; => nil

When binding restarts, a test function can be provided that will be called to test if the restart should be visible at any given time. This function must take optional rest arguments for a condition the restart is being searched for in the context of and its arguments.

(restart-case (far/find-restart ::some-restart)
  (::some-restart [] :test (constantly nil)
    (println "Impossible to reach")))
;; => nil

As demonstrated above, find-restart may be called to find the first applicable restart with a given name. You can call invoke-restart directly with its return value instead of with the restart name to prevent the need to look it up again.

The function compute-restarts returns a list of visible restarts, each value of which includes a :farolero.core/restart-name key containing the restart's name.

One restart is always bound, named :farolero.core/throw. It immediately throws the condition using ex-info.

A dual to restart-case and mirror to handler-bind is restart-bind. It has the same syntax as handler-bind, and when a restart is invoked, it is invoked as a normal function and does not unwind the stack. This is generally not particularly useful as if non-local transfer of control does not occur in the restart, it will return to the code calling it, likely meaning that further handlers will be invoked. The primary use of this macro is in the implementation of additional facilities built atop restarts, such as restart-case.

The Debugger

When error or cerror is called and no handler is bound for the condition being signaled, the debugger is invoked using the function invoke-debugger.

(restart-case (far/error ::ayy)
  (::some-restart [])
  (::some-other-restart []))
;; => throws an ex-info "Unhandled condition"

By default, the debugger will just throw the condition (wrapping it if it's not already an exception). This enables library developers to use conditions without requiring their users to learn farolero. For code that wants to use an interactive debugger however, the following line should be included.

(alter-var-root #'far/*debugger-hook* (constantly nil))

This will deactivate the debugger that throws exceptions, and allow farolero to use the "system debugger" that is built in. This can, for example, be done either at the top level or at runtime for an application, or in a namespace loaded only during development (like user) for a library.

(restart-case (far/error ::ayy)
  (::some-restart [])
  (::some-other-restart []))
;; Debugger level 1 entered on :user/ayy
;; :user/ayy was signaled with arguments nil
;; 0 [:user/some-restart] :user/some-restart
;; 1 [:user/some-other-restart] :user/some-other-restart
;; 2 [:farolero.core/throw] Throw the condition as an exception
;; user> 0
;; => nil

When the system debugger is invoked, it reports the condition which triggered it, and lists the restarts available in the current context. If you enter a simple number that's an index of one of the available restarts, then that restart will be invoked interactively, prompting the user for input. If the restart has no special handling for being invoked interactively, as the restarts above, a default interactive handler will be used.

Instead of using a number, arbitrary expressions may be evaluated at the debugger before providing a restart to continue with. This may be used to get the program into a state where the error may be continued from without issues.

If any more unhandled errors arise during the debugger's evaluation, then an additional recursive layer of the debugger is invoked.

(far/error ::ayy)
;; Debugger level 1 entered on :user/ayy
;; :user/ayy was signaled with arguments nil
;; 0 [:farolero.core/throw] Throw the condition as an exception
;; user> (far/error "oy")
;; Debugger level 2 entered on :farolero.core/simple-error
;; oy
;; 0 [:farolero.core/abort] Return to level 1 of the debugger
;; 1 [:farolero.core/throw] Throw the condition as an exception
;; user>

When inside recursive layers of the debugger, the :farolero.core/abort restart is bound, allowing you to return to higher levels of the debugger and work from there.

The debugger and interactive restarts use *in* and *out* for input and output, but many interactive restarts also signal conditions to request the data they need and allow it to be supplied by using a :farolero.core/use-value restart.

In some contexts, it may be desirable to have alternative behavior when conditions are raised without an applicable handler, rather than invoking the default interactive debugger (e.g. writing a custom GUI debugger). The dynamic variable *debugger-hook* can be bound to change the behavior of invoke-debugger. The default value for the hook is throwing-debugger, which is a function that will throw any conditions it is invoked with.

When making custom debuggers, the user binds a function to the hook. The bound function must take two arguments, first a list of the condition and its arguments, and the second is the currently bound debugger hook, which should be used to invoke the debugger again rather than calling invoke-debugger directly, or to bind *debugger-hook* again before calling other code, as invoke-debugger unbinds the hook before calling it, so that if an error is raised in it the system debugger will be invoked instead.

If the *debugger-hook* is bound to nil, it will invoke the system debugger, which by default is the debugger described above. The *system-debugger* dynamic variable contains the debugger to be called in this situation. This variable should never be bound to nil.

The break function can be used to create breakpoints in your code. When called, it binds *debugger-hook* to nil before calling invoke-debugger, ensuring the system debugger is used. This allows the primary debugger to be one which automatically handles errors, such as throwing-debugger, but when break is called, the system debugger will be invoked, allowing the user to interactively debug the application before resuming execution.

When binding restarts, additional information can be provided for use with the debugger. A report function can be provided, as well as a function invoked to interactively request any needed arguments to the restart function.

(restart-case (far/error ::ayy)
  (::some-restart [x]
    :report (fn [restart] (str "Value for some restart"))
    :interactive (constantly (list 5))
    x))
;; Debugger level 1 entered on :user/ayy
;; :user/ayy was signaled with arguments nil
;; 0 [:user/some-restart] Value for some restart
;; 1 [:farolero.core/throw] Throw the condition as an exception
;; user> 0
;; => 5

Applications

With an understanding of what conditions and restarts are, and how to use them, there remains the question of when they should be applied.

The basic rule of thumb is any time there's more than one way to handle a situation, you bind some restarts and signal a condition. For a more concrete look at the kinds of situations this may occur in, and how this can improve your code, take a look at the example projects.

For the top level of an application though, you often will want to create handlers which work through your whole application as default ways of handling errors, and you may also want to disable them while in development.

In an example application, it may be structured like the following:

;;;; src/my_app/core.clj
(ns my-app.core
  (:require
   [farolero.core :as far :refer [restart-case handler-bind]]
   [my-app.impl :as impl])
  (:gen-class))

(defn -main
  [& args]
  (restart-case
      (handler-bind [::far/error
                     (fn [c & args]
                       (impl/report-error c args)
                       ;; If we have a way to ignore the error, do so
                       (apply far/continue c args)
                       ;; Otherwise, save a crash report and abort the application
                       (impl/save-crash-report c args)
                       (apply far/abort c args))]
        (impl/start args))
    (::far/abort []
      :report "Abort the application and exit."))
  ;; Here is where you could do any extra shutdown stuff you need
  (shutdown-agents))

;;;; dev/user.clj
(ns user
  (:require
   [farolero.core :as far]
   [my-app.impl :as impl :refer [start]]))

(defonce on-startup
  (alter-var-root! #'far/*debugger-hook* (constantly nil)))

In an application set up in this manner a default way to handle any error is bound at a top-level to the entry point for a distributable application which will report errors as they occur, and if they can be safely ignored will do so. All it requires from you as the application developer is to make sure that you create :farolero.core/continue restarts only in places where you can safely continue without breaking anything. If you want a way to continue but only conditionally, you can either set the :test function on the restart, or you can use a different restart name.

When you are working in a development environment though, it can be useful to see errors as they come up and deal with them interactively, so instead it's recommended to call out to a start function which has no default error handling, and to configure a debugger (e.g. binding the system debugger as above). This way, you can deal with errors as they arise.

Library Developers

If you're following along in a repl, execute the following code to re-bind the default debugger.

(alter-var-root #'far/*debugger-hook* (constantly far/throwing-debugger))

When writing libraries with farolero, it may be desirable to not require the user to have experience with farolero, instead allowing them to use more familiar methods of error handling.

In these cases, farolero's default debugger will aid the library developer. When an error is signaled and not handled, the debugger is invoked. In general, the user will be the one who decides which debugger will be used, but if they don't use farolero directly, it will be left as the default, which will throw the condition as an exception.

In order to aid in exception handling in your public api, errors should be signaled as exceptions with no additional arguments.

(far/error (RuntimeException. "an error"))
;; => throws a RuntimeException

If any additional arguments are signaled along with the condition, or if something other than an exception is signaled, then the value will be wrapped in an ex-info.

(far/error (RuntimeException. "an error") ::some-arg)
;; => throws an ex-info with a RuntimeException cause
(far/error ::some-condition)
;; => throws an ex-info

The ex-info will have the keys :condition, containing the signaled value, and :args containing a seq of the rest of the arguments.

If you desire to provide dynamic variables for handlers and restarts to provide an interface similar to the library-less approach, it can be accomplished relatively simply, while handing off handling of unwinding to farolero.

;; A restart
(def ^:dynamic *use-value*)
(def ^:dynamic *some-handler* (constantly nil))

(defn some-func 
  []
  (restart-case
      (binding [*use-value* (fn [v] (far/use-value v))]
        (println "Done some stuff!")
        (far/signal ::some-condition))
    (::far/use-value [v]
      v)))

(defn library-entrypoint
  []
  (handler-bind [::some-condition *some-handler*]
    (some-func)))

;; in user code
(binding [*some-handler* (fn [condition] (*use-value* :blah))]
  (library-entrypoint))
;; Done some stuff!
;; => :blah

This requires placing a handler-bind around all of the entrypoints of the library. If the user decides to use farolero directly instead of this approach, then having the handlers be bound to a function that returns nil will cause farolero to look further up the stack for a handler, meaning the user can bind their own handlers if desired.

An additional thing that a library developer should consider when writing code with farolero is that interactive functions, the functions used to get the arguments for an interactive restart, should be configurable by the library user so that they can provide a custom debugger that will be able to interact with your restarts, but then have a default way of fetching user input as well. The function request-value is provided to make this easy.

(restart-case (far/invoke-restart-interactively ::some-restart)
  (::some-restart [a]
    :interactive #(list (far/request-value ::interactive-some-restart))
    a))
;; user> :foo
;; => :foo

This will first signal ::interactive-some-restart to allow a handler to provide a value with the :farolero.core/use-value restart, and then if they do not, present a repl-like interface reading and writing with *in* and *out*. This is the correct way to handle interactive functions to allow user customizability, without requiring the library user to define something special if they are willing to use the default experience.

The specific reason for this pattern, as opposed to the Common Lisp pattern of using streams for debug io, is to prevent needlessly serializing and deserializing data as it is sent up and down the stack.

request-value will ensure that the condition signaled also derives from :farolero.core/request-value, allowing a handler to be bound to deal with every instance of an interactive value request.

If some kind of interaction needs to be performed but no value returned, use the function request-interaction.

(restart-case (far/invoke-restart-interactively ::some-restart)
  (::some-restart []
    :interactive #(far/request-interaction ::interactive-some-restart)
    5))
;; Call farolero.core/continue when you are done
;; user> (+ 2 2)
;; 4
;; user> (far/continue)
;; => 5

This will ensure that ::interactive-some-restart derives from :farolero.core/request-interaction. The parent type for all interaction and value requests is :farolero.core/interaction.

If you wish to provide a custom default handler instead of the included repl (as e.g. farolero.core/assert does), then follow this pattern:

;; At the top level somewhere
(derive ::interactive-some-restart ::far/request-interaction)

;; In your error handling
(restart-case (far/invoke-restart-interactively ::some-restart)
  (::some-restart []
    :interactive
    (fn []
      (restart-case
          (do
            (far/signal ::interactive-some-restart)
            ;; do some things that are the default
            )
        (::far/continue [])))
    5))

If the handler requires a value, then use the :farolero.core/use-value restart, and derive your condition from :farolero.core/request-value.

Laziness and Dynamic Scope

Condition handlers and restarts are bound only inside a particular dynamic scope. This can create some challenges with the facilities that Clojure provides for deferring calculations, like delay and laziness.

(handler-bind [::far/condition
               (fn [& args]
                 (apply prn args)
                 (far/continue))]
  (delay (far/cerror "hello")))
;; => #<Delay@28c6c817: :not-delivered>
@*1
;; => Unhandled condition

(handler-bind [::far/condition
               (fn [& args]
                 (apply prn args)
                 (far/continue))]
  (map far/cerror ["hello"]))
;; => Unhandled condition

These sorts of problems can be frustrating to deal with, and hard to find. The reason for them comes from the way that Clojure evaluates this code. In the case of delay, this is fairly clear what's happening. While the code is inside the delay, it's only actually run when we dereference the returned value. This makes it clear that the code is run outside of the dynamic extent of the handler-bind.

The case with map is a little harder to see, especially for new users of Clojure, and especially at the repl. What's happening is that map produces a lazy sequence, which does not evaluate the function that it calls on the sequence when you call map. Instead, the function passed to map is only called when the lazy sequence is consumed. This is somewhat confused by the fact that the repl will consume the sequence implicitly as it prints the value.

Because this printing happens after the expression has already returned, it means that it's outside of the dynamic extent of the handler-bind.

All is not lost, however. We have multiple ways we can deal with this problem. First off, in the case of map, we could simply fully realize the sequence when we create it, by using mapv or doall, and in some situations using pr-str and discarding the string will be helpful because it will perform the realization deeply.

(handler-bind [::far/condition
               (fn [& args]
                 (apply prn args)
                 (far/continue))]
  (doall (map far/cerror ["hello"])))
;; :farolero.core/simple-error "An error has occurred"
;; => (nil)

This won't work if you need to keep the laziness of your sequence, due to side effects or memory constraints, and it won't help in the case of delay either. In those situations, you can use bound-fn.

(handler-bind [::far/condition
               (fn [& args]
                 (apply prn args)
                 (far/continue))]
  (map (bound-fn [s] (far/cerror s)) ["hello"]))
;; :farolero.core/simple-error "An error has occurred"
;; => (nil)

bound-fn will capture the dynamic context when it's evaluated, ensuring that the body has the correct handlers and restarts bound when it's called. This however has a limitation on certain handlers and restarts, as you can only unwind to a point on the stack if that point is still on the stack.

(let [f (far/block bad
          (bound-fn [] (far/return-from bad)))]
  (f))
;; => Signals a :farolero.core/control-error

This fails because by the time we call f, the block it attempts to return from is not on the stack anymore. In these cases a :farolero.core/control-error is signaled, invoking the debugger and giving you information about the failure.

Multithreading

Handlers and restarts are bound thread-locally, but with dynamic variable conveyance they may carry over to other threads in some contexts. To deal with this, farolero allows the user to specify whether a particular handler or restart is not thread-local when calling handler-bind or restart-bind.

(handler-bind [::foo (fn [c] (println c))]
  @(future (far/signal ::foo)))
;; :user/foo
;; => nil
(handler-bind [::foo [(fn [c] (println c)) :thread-local true]]
  @(future (far/signal ::foo)))
;; => nil
(far/restart-bind [::foo (fn [])]
  @(future (far/find-restart ::foo)))
;; => #:farolero.core{:restart-name ::foo}
(far/restart-bind [::foo [(fn []) :thread-local true]]
  @(future (far/find-restart ::foo)))
;; => nil

If a handler or restart is labeled as thread-local, then it is simply not visible to other threads, and they will continue to search further up the stack.

(handler-bind [::foo (fn [_] (println "outer"))]
  (handler-bind [::foo [(fn [_] (println "inner")) :thread-local true]]
    @(future (far/signal ::foo))))
;; outer
;; => nil
(far/restart-bind [::foo (fn [] (println "outer"))]
  (far/restart-bind [::foo [(fn [] (println "inner")) :thread-local true]]
    @(future (far/invoke-restart ::foo))))
;; outer
;; => nil

In contrast to the *-bind macros, handler-case and restart-case always bind thread-local handlers and restarts, because they always unwind the stack to a particular point.

(handler-case (far/signal ::foo)
  (::foo [c]
    (println c)))
;; :user/foo
;; => nil
(handler-case @(future (far/signal ::foo))
  (::foo [c]
    (println c)))
;; => nil

When using libraries which add forms of concurrency besides simple threads (core.async, promesa, manifold, etc.), care must be taken to ensure that code run in the context of thread-local handlers and restarts is run on the same thread that bound them. This means that, for example, in a core.async go block, you must not park inside the dynamic scope of thread-local restarts or handlers if they are to be used.

In a case where you attempt to access a restart which is not bound in the current thread, a :farolero.core/control-error will be signaled.

The system debugger included with farolero also supports multithreaded contexts. If the debugger is invoked from a thread while it is already active, it will be queued for later use. If the user wishes to switch which debugger is active while debugging, they may enter :switch-debugger at the repl, followed by the index of the debugger they wish to switch to. If something other than a number is read, a control error is signaled with restarts bound to retry and to abort and go back to the debugger you started from.

(far/error "Error from thread 1")
;; Debugger level 1 entered on :farolero.core/simple-error
;; Error from thread 1
;; 0 [:farolero.core/throw] Throw the condition as an exception
;; user> (future (far/error "Error from thread 2"))
;; #object[clojure.core$future_call$reify__8477 0x646c0a67 {:status :pending, :val nil}]
;; user> :switch-debugger
;; Debuggers from other threads
;; 0 [clojure-agent-send-off-pool-0] Error from thread 2
;; Debugger to activate: 0
;; Debugger level 1 entered on :farolero.core/simple-error
;; Error from thread 2
;; 0 [:farolero.core/throw] Throw the condition as an exception
;; user> 0
;; Debugger level 1 entered on :farolero.core/simple-error
;; Error from thread 1
;; 0 [:farolero.core/throw] Throw the condition as an exception
;; user> 0
;; Execution error (ExceptionInfo) at farolero.core/fn (core.cljc:315).
;; Condition was thrown

Other Control Flow

In addition to the core functions and macros required to make conditions and restarts, farolero provides a few more control flow operators inspired by the Common Lisp spec.

The block macro (and its paired block* function) provides a way to perform an early return from a named block.

(far/block the-block
  (far/return-from the-block :hello)
  :goodbye)
;; => :hello

Passing no second argument to return-from results in the block returning nil.

(far/block the-block
  (far/return-from the-block)
  :goodbye)
;; => nil

This return works anywhere within the dynamic scope of the block, not just within its current stack frame.

(defn some-func
  [f]
  (f :hello)
  :goodbye)

(far/block the-block
  (some-func #(far/return-from the-block %))
  :goodbye)
;; => :hello

If you use a keyword instead of a symbol, then return-from will unwind the stack until the first block which uses the same keyword. This is equivalent to Common Lisp's throw and catch.

(defn throwing-func
  []
  (far/return-from :the-block :goodbye))

(far/block :the-block
  (far/block :the-block
    (throwing-func)) ;; => :goodbye
  :hello)
;; => :hello

The block* function calls a closure in the context of such a block with the given keyword as the block name.

(far/block* :the-block
  #(do (far/return-from :the-block :hello)
       :goodbye))
;; => :hello

If you want to uniquely specify a block name for use with block*, the make-jump-target function is provided.

(let [the-block (far/make-jump-target)]
  (far/block* the-block
    #(do (far/return-from the-block :hello)
         :goodbye)))
;; => :hello

Any extra arguments passed to block* are passed as arguments to the closure.

(far/block* :the-block
  #(do (far/return-from :the-block %)
       :goodbye)
  :hello)
;; => :hello

If you attempt to return-from a block that isn't in the current thread's dynamic scope, then a :farolero.core/control-error is signaled.

(far/return-from :error nil)
;; => Entered the debugger on :farolero.core/control-error

An additional facility is tagbody, which binds labels for its dynamic scope which can be jumped to with go. This is more or less an imperative letfn, but can be used to implement more complex control flow than the other operators in Clojure.

(let [x (volatile! 0)]
  (far/tagbody
    (println "Entered tagbody!")
    loop
    (when (> @x 5)
      (far/go exit))
    (vswap! x inc)
    (far/go loop)
    exit
    (println "Exiting tagbody!"))
  @x)
;; Entered tagbody!
;; Exiting tagbody!
;; => 6

The tagbody clause always returns nil.

Just like block and return-from, go may be used anywhere within the dynamic scope of the tagbody.

(defn call-if-greater
  [v f]
  (when (> v 5)
    (f)))

(let [x (volatile! 0)]
  (far/tagbody
    (println "Entered tagbody!")
    loop
    (call-if-greater @x #(far/go exit))
    (vswap! x inc)
    (far/go loop)
    exit
    (println "Exiting tagbody!"))
  @x)
;; Entered tagbody!
;; Exiting tagbody!
;; => 6

This can be combined with block to add a return value.

(let [x (volatile! 0)]
  (far/block the-block
    (far/tagbody
      (println "Entered tagbody!")
      loop
      (when (> @x 5)
        (far/go exit))
      (vswap! x inc)
      (far/go loop)
      exit
      (println "Exiting tagbody!")
      (far/return-from the-block @x))))
;; Entered tagbody!
;; Exiting tagbody!
;; => 6

When using restart-case, tagbody can be used to provide a way to retry items from the restarts.

(far/block exit
  (far/tagbody
    retry
    (far/return-from exit
      (far/restart-case (if (< (rand) 0.5)
                          (do (println "iteration")
                              (far/invoke-restart ::far/continue))
                          :eventual-result)
        (::far/continue []
          (far/go retry))))))
;; iteration
;; iteration
;; iteration
;; iteration
;; => :eventual-result

The above code will loop while (< (rand) 0.5) returns true, eventually returning :eventual-result when it returns false.

Implementation Caveat

Many different operators in farolero build upon the block macro and its associated functions. The block macro is implemented in terms of the JVM's exception mechanism, by throwing a value that extends java.lang.Error. This value specifies a particular block that it unwinds to. The purpose of the java.lang.Error class is to provide a way to throw a value that is explicitly intended not to be caught.

Unfortunately you may sometimes see code that catches java.lang.Throwable. In nearly all cases, this code doesn't need to and shouldn't catch this much, and the primary reason to do it is to allow the code to catch both all java.lang.Exceptions, and java.lang.AssertionError.

What this means however is that in cases where code catches all Throwables farolero will be unable to unwind the stack past that boundary, and if the value is logged, it may be confusing as farolero's Signal class does not include a stack trace or error message.

The reality of the situation is that while farolero can do nothing about this (except in cases where extension mechanisms are provided, as with flow), many pieces of code that catch Throwable are frameworks of various sorts, and it's unlikely to desire unwinding past them, so this rarely is an issue, but it is one that you should keep in mind when using farolero.

Extensions

Some other error handling libraries will try to interact with exceptions by catching Throwable, which will interfere with the farolero unwind mechanism. Thankfully, some of those libraries also provide extension mechanisms to specify behavior for particular exceptions, which gives farolero a way to keep the unwind mechanism functional. In cases like this, farolero adds an extension namespace.

When working with JVM Clojure, this will operate transparently to the user, as the libraries will be detected at runtime and extensions loaded. Unfortunately, ClojureScript doesn't provide a mechanism for checking for dependencies at runtime, and this means that you will have to require the extension namespace yourself to activate the integration.

The namespace names for extensions are of the form farolero.extensions.lib-name, like farolero.extensions.flow for integration with flow.

The following libraries currently have extensions:

flow

Known Issues

You may run into one of the issues below. I am aware of them and have plans to fix them. If you know how to fix them or have the time, pull requests are always welcome!

License

Distributed under the Eclipse Public License version 1.0.

IGJoshua/farolero

IGJoshua

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