nixpkgs/lib/fixed-points.nix
Robert Hensing 1f8b5c039e lib.fix: Improve doc
The original doc did not help with understanding at all, and the
wikipedia link was actively harmful.
2023-07-08 20:09:24 +02:00

187 lines
6.1 KiB
Nix

{ lib, ... }:
rec {
/*
`fix f` computes the fixed point of the given function `f`. In other words, the return value is `x` in `x = f x`.
`f` is usually returns an attribute set that expects its final, non-recursive representation as an argument.
`f` must be a lazy function.
**How it works**
For context, Nix lets you define attribute set values in terms of other attributes using the `rec { }` attribute set literal syntax.
```nix
nix-repl> rec {
foo = "foo";
bar = "bar";
foobar = foo + bar;
}
{ bar = "bar"; foo = "foo"; foobar = "foobar"; }
```
This is convenient when constructing a value to pass to a function for example, but a similar effect can be achieved with a `let` binding:
```nix
nix-repl> let self = {
foo = "foo";
bar = "bar";
foobar = self.foo + self.bar;
}; in self
{ bar = "bar"; foo = "foo"; foobar = "foobar"; }
```
`let` bindings are nice, but as it is with `let` bindings in general, we may get more reuse out of the code by defining a function.
```nix
nix-repl> f = self: {
foo = "foo";
bar = "bar";
foobar = self.foo + self.bar;
}
```
This is where `fix` comes in. Note that the body of the `fix` function
looks a lot like our earlier `let` binding, and that's no coincidence.
Fix is no more than such a recursive `let` binding, but with everything
except the recursion factored out into a function parameter `f`.
```nix
fix = f:
let self = f self; in self;
```
So applying `fix` is another way to express our earlier examples.
```
nix-repl> fix f
{ bar = "bar"; foo = "foo"; foobar = "foobar"; }
```
This example did not _need_ `fix`, and arguably it shouldn't be used in such an example.
However, `fix` is useful when your `f` is a parameter, or when it is constructed from higher order functions.
Type: fix :: (a -> a) -> a
*/
fix = f: let x = f x; in x;
/*
A variant of `fix` that records the original recursive attribute set in the
result, in an attribute named `__unfix__`.
This is useful in combination with the `extends` function to
implement deep overriding.
*/
fix' = f: let x = f x // { __unfix__ = f; }; in x;
/*
Return the fixpoint that `f` converges to when called iteratively, starting
with the input `x`.
```
nix-repl> converge (x: x / 2) 16
0
```
Type: (a -> a) -> a -> a
*/
converge = f: x:
let
x' = f x;
in
if x' == x
then x
else converge f x';
/*
Modify the contents of an explicitly recursive attribute set in a way that
honors `self`-references. This is accomplished with a function
```nix
g = self: super: { foo = super.foo + " + "; }
```
that has access to the unmodified input (`super`) as well as the final
non-recursive representation of the attribute set (`self`). `extends`
differs from the native `//` operator insofar as that it's applied *before*
references to `self` are resolved:
```
nix-repl> fix (extends g f)
{ bar = "bar"; foo = "foo + "; foobar = "foo + bar"; }
```
The name of the function is inspired by object-oriented inheritance, i.e.
think of it as an infix operator `g extends f` that mimics the syntax from
Java. It may seem counter-intuitive to have the "base class" as the second
argument, but it's nice this way if several uses of `extends` are cascaded.
To get a better understanding how `extends` turns a function with a fix
point (the package set we start with) into a new function with a different fix
point (the desired packages set) lets just see, how `extends g f`
unfolds with `g` and `f` defined above:
```
extends g f = self: let super = f self; in super // g self super;
= self: let super = { foo = "foo"; bar = "bar"; foobar = self.foo + self.bar; }; in super // g self super
= self: { foo = "foo"; bar = "bar"; foobar = self.foo + self.bar; } // g self { foo = "foo"; bar = "bar"; foobar = self.foo + self.bar; }
= self: { foo = "foo"; bar = "bar"; foobar = self.foo + self.bar; } // { foo = "foo" + " + "; }
= self: { foo = "foo + "; bar = "bar"; foobar = self.foo + self.bar; }
```
*/
extends = f: rattrs: self: let super = rattrs self; in super // f self super;
/*
Compose two extending functions of the type expected by 'extends'
into one where changes made in the first are available in the
'super' of the second
*/
composeExtensions =
f: g: final: prev:
let fApplied = f final prev;
prev' = prev // fApplied;
in fApplied // g final prev';
/*
Compose several extending functions of the type expected by 'extends' into
one where changes made in preceding functions are made available to
subsequent ones.
```
composeManyExtensions : [packageSet -> packageSet -> packageSet] -> packageSet -> packageSet -> packageSet
^final ^prev ^overrides ^final ^prev ^overrides
```
*/
composeManyExtensions =
lib.foldr (x: y: composeExtensions x y) (final: prev: {});
/*
Create an overridable, recursive attribute set. For example:
```
nix-repl> obj = makeExtensible (self: { })
nix-repl> obj
{ __unfix__ = «lambda»; extend = «lambda»; }
nix-repl> obj = obj.extend (self: super: { foo = "foo"; })
nix-repl> obj
{ __unfix__ = «lambda»; extend = «lambda»; foo = "foo"; }
nix-repl> obj = obj.extend (self: super: { foo = super.foo + " + "; bar = "bar"; foobar = self.foo + self.bar; })
nix-repl> obj
{ __unfix__ = «lambda»; bar = "bar"; extend = «lambda»; foo = "foo + "; foobar = "foo + bar"; }
```
*/
makeExtensible = makeExtensibleWithCustomName "extend";
/*
Same as `makeExtensible` but the name of the extending attribute is
customized.
*/
makeExtensibleWithCustomName = extenderName: rattrs:
fix' (self: (rattrs self) // {
${extenderName} = f: makeExtensibleWithCustomName extenderName (extends f rattrs);
});
}