= Sourcify

== IMPORTANT#1: Sourcify was written in the days of ruby 1.9.x, it should be buggy for anything beyond that. == IMPORTANT#2: Sourcify is no longer maintained, use it at your own risk, & expect no bug fixes.

ParseTree[http://github.com/seattlerb/parsetree] is great, it accesses the runtime AST (abstract syntax tree) and makes it possible to convert any object to ruby code & S-expression, BUT ParseTree doesn't work for 1.9.* & JRuby.

RubyParser[http://github.com/seattlerb/ruby_parser] is great, and it works for any rubies (of course, not 100% compatible for 1.8.7 & 1.9.* syntax yet), BUT it works only with static code.

I truely enjoy using the above tools, but with my other projects, the absence of ParseTree on the different rubies is forcing me to hand-baked my own solution each time to extract the proc code i need at runtime. This is frustrating, the solution for each of them is never perfect, and i'm reinventing the wheel each time just to address a particular pattern of usage (using regexp kungfu).

Enough is enough, and now we have Sourcify, a unified solution to extract proc code. When ParseTree is available, it simply works as a thin wrapper round it, otherwise, it uses a home-baked ragel-generated scanner to extract the proc code. Further processing with RubyParser & Ruby2Ruby to ensure 100% with ParseTree (yup, there is no denying that i really like ParseTree).

== Installing It

The religiously standard way:

$ gem install ParseTree sourcify

Or on 1.9.* or JRuby:

$ gem install ruby_parser file-tail sourcify

== Sourcify adds 4 methods to Proc

=== 1. Proc#to_source

Returns the code representation of the proc:

require 'sourcify'

lambda { x + y }.to_source

>> "proc { (x + y) }"

proc { x + y }.to_source

>> "proc { (x + y) }"

Like it or not, a lambda is represented as a proc when converted to source (exactly the same way as ParseTree). It is possible to only extract the body of the proc by passing in {:strip_enclosure => true}:

lambda { x + y }.to_source(:strip_enclosure => true)

>> "(x + y)"

lambda {|i| i + 2 }.to_source(:strip_enclosure => true)

>> "(i + 2)"

=== 2. Proc#to_sexp

Returns the S-expression of the proc:

require 'sourcify'

x = 1 lambda { x + y }.to_sexp

>> s(:iter,

>> s(:call, nil, :proc, s(:arglist)),

>> nil,

>> s(:call, s(:lvar, :x), :+, s(:arglist, s(:call, nil, :y, s(:arglist)))))

To extract only the body of the proc:

lambda { x + y }.to_sexp(:strip_enclosure => true)

>> s(:call, s(:lvar, :x), :+, s(:arglist, s(:call, nil, :y, s(:arglist)))))

=== 3. Proc#to_raw_source

Unlike Proc#to_source, which returns code that retains only functional aspects, fetching of raw source returns the raw code enclosed within the proc, including fluff like comments:

lambda do |i| i+1 # (blah) end.to_raw_source

>> "proc do |i|

>> i+1 # (blah)

>> end"

NOTE: This is extracting of raw code, it relies on static code scanning (even when running in ParseTree mode), the gotchas for static code scanning always apply.

=== 4. Proc#source_location

By default, this is only available on 1.9., it is added (as a bonus) to provide consistency under 1.8.:

/tmp/test.rb

require 'sourcify'

lambda { x + y }.source_location

>> ["/tmp/test.rb", 5]

== Sourcify adds 3 methods to Method

IMPORTANT: These only work for MRI-1.9.2, as currently, only it supports (1) discovering of the original source location with Method#source_location, and (2) reliably determinig a method's parameters with Method#parameters. Attempting to use these methods on other rubies will raise Sourcify::PlatformNotSupportedError.

NOTE: The following works for methods defined using both def .. end & Module#define_method. However, when a method is defined using the later approach, sourcify uses Proc#to_source to handle the processing, thus, the usual gotchas related to proc source extraction apply.

=== 1. Method#to_source

Returns the code representation of the method:

require 'sourcify'

class MyMath def self.sum(x, y) x + y # (blah) end end

MyMath.method(:sum).to_source

>> "def sum(x, y)

>> (x + y)

>> end"

Just like the Proc#to_source equivalent, u can set :strip_enclosure => true to extract only the body within.

=== 2. Method#to_sexp

Returns the S-expression of the method:

require 'sourcify'

class MyMath def self.sum(x, y) x + y # (blah) end end

MyMath.method(:sum).to_sexp

s(:defn, :sum, s(:args, :x, :y), s(:scope, s(:block, s(:call, s(:lvar, :x), :+, s(:arglist, s(:lvar, :y))))))

Just like the Proc#to_sexp equivalent, u can set :strip_enclosure => true to extract only the body within.

=== 3. Method#to_raw_source

Unlike Method#to_source, which returns code that retains only functional aspects, fetching of raw source returns the method's raw code, including fluff like comments:

require 'sourcify'

class MyMath def self.sum(x, y) x + y # (blah) end end

MyMath.method(:sum).to_raw_source

>> "def sum(x, y)

>> x + y # (blah)

>> end"

Just like the Proc#to_raw_source equivalent, u can set :strip_enclosure => true to extract only the body within.

== Performance

Performance is embarassing for now, benchmarking results for processing 500 procs (in the ObjectSpace of an average rails project) yiels the following:

ruby user system total real ruby-1.8.7-p299 (w ParseTree) 10.270000 0.010000 10.280000 ( 10.311430) ruby-1.8.7-p299 (static scanner) 14.120000 0.080000 14.200000 ( 14.283817) ruby-1.9.1-p376 (static scanner) 17.380000 0.050000 17.430000 ( 17.405966) jruby-1.5.2 (static scanner) 21.318000 0.000000 21.318000 ( 21.318000)

Since i'm still pretty new to ragel[http://www.complang.org/ragel], the code scanner will probably become better & faster as my knowlegde & skills with ragel improve. Also, instead of generating a pure ruby scanner, we can generate native code (eg. C or java, or whatever) instead. As i'm a C & java noob, this will probably take some time to realize.

== Gotchas

Nothing beats ParseTree's ability to access the runtime AST, it is a very powerful feature. The scanner-based (static) implementation suffer the following gotchas:

=== 1. The source code is everything

Since static code analysis is involved, the subject code needs to physically exist within a file, meaning Proc#source_location must return the expected [file, lineno], the following will not work:

def test eval('lambda { x + y }') end

test.source_location

>> ["(eval)", 1]

test.to_source

>> Sourcify::CannotParseEvalCodeError

The same applies to Blah#to_proc & &:blah:

klass = Class.new do def aa(&block); block ; end def bb; 1+2; end end

klass.new.method(:bb).to_proc.to_source

>> Sourcify::CannotHandleCreatedOnTheFlyProcError

klass.new.aa(&:bb).to_source

>> Sourcify::CannotHandleCreatedOnTheFlyProcError

=== 2. Multiple matching procs per line error

Sometimes, we may have multiple procs on a line, Sourcify can handle this as long as the subject proc has arity that is unique from others:

Yup, this works as expected :)

b1 = lambda {|a| a+1 }; b2 = lambda { 1+2 } b2.to_source

>> proc { (1 + 2) }

Nope, this won't work :(

b1 = lambda { 1+2 }; b2 = lambda { 2+3 } b2.to_source

>> raises Sourcify::MultipleMatchingProcsPerLineError

As observed, the above does not work when there are multiple procs having the same arity, on the same line. Furthermore, this bug[http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/show/574] under 1.8.* affects the accuracy of this approach.

To better narrow down the scanning, try:

• passing in the {:attached_to => ...} option

  x = lambda { proc { :blah } }

  x.to_source

  >> Sourcify::MultipleMatchingProcsPerLineError

  x.to_source(:attached_to => :lambda)

  >> "proc { proc { :blah } }"

• passing in the {:ignore_nested => ...} option

  x = lambda { lambda { :blah } }

  x.to_source

  >> Sourcify::MultipleMatchingProcsPerLineError

  x.to_source(:ignore_nested => true)

  >> "proc { lambda { :blah } }"

• attaching a body matcher proc

  x, y = lambda { def secret; 1; end }, lambda { :blah }

  x.to_source

  >> Sourcify::MultipleMatchingProcsPerLineError

  x.to_source{|body| body =~ /^(.*\W|)def\W/ }

  >> 'proc { def secret; 1; end }'

Pls refer to the rdoc for more details.

=== 3. Occasional Racc::ParseError

Under the hood, sourcify relies on RubyParser to yield s-expression, and since RubyParser does not yet fully handle 1.8.7 & 1.9.* syntax, you will get a nasty Racc::ParseError when you have any code that is not compatible with 1.8.6.

=== 4. Lambda operator doesn't work

When a lambda has been created using the lambda operator "->", sourcify can't handle it:

x = ->{ :blah }
x.to_source
# >> Sourcify::NoMatchingProcError

== Is it really working ??

Sourcify spec suite currently passes in the following rubies:

• MRI-1.8.*, REE-1.8.7 (both ParseTree & static scanner modes)
• JRuby-1.6., MRI-1.9. (static scanner ONLY)

Besides its own spec suite, sourcify has also been tested to handle:

ObjectSpace.each_object(Proc) {|o| puts o.to_source }

For projects:

• Spree[http://github.com/railsdog/spree]
• Redmine[http://github.com/edavis10/redmine]

(TODO: the more the merrier)

== Projects using it

Projects using sourcify include:

• wrong[http://github.com/sconover/wrong]
• ruote[http://ruote.rubyforge.org/]
• dm-ambition[https://github.com/dkubb/dm-ambition]

== Additional Resources

Sourcify is heavily inspired by many ideas gathered from the ruby community:

• http://www.justskins.com/forums/breaking-ruby-code-into-117453.html
• http://rubyquiz.com/quiz38.html (Florian Groß's solution)
• http://svenfuchs.com/2009/07/05/using-ruby-1-9-ripper.html

The sad fact that Proc#to_source wouldn't be available in the near future:

• http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/show/2080

== Note on Patches/Pull Requests

• Fork the project.
• Make your feature addition or bug fix.
• Add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a future version unintentionally.
• Commit, do not mess with rakefile, version, or history. (if you want to have your own version, that is fine but bump version in a commit by itself I can ignore when I pull)
• Send me a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.

== Copyright

Copyright (c) 2010 NgTzeYang. See LICENSE for details.