Easy Hoogle usage from bash

What is Hoogle?

Hoogle is Google for searching of Haskell functions. You could ask it for function name or its signature.

There is available command hoogle, which could be installed using stack:

$ stack install hoogle

Using hoogle from command line

To hoogle a function you could just pass it as parameter:

$ hoogle fmap
Prelude fmap :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
Data.Functor fmap :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
Control.Monad fmap :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
Control.Monad.Instances fmap :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
Data.Traversable fmapDefault :: Traversable t => (a -> b) -> t a -> t b
Network.Stream fmapE :: (a -> Result b) -> IO (Result a) -> IO (Result b)

or pass its signature:

$ hoogle "(a -> b -> c) -> [a] -> [b] -> [c]"
Prelude zipWith :: (a -> b -> c) -> [a] -> [b] -> [c]
Data.List zipWith :: (a -> b -> c) -> [a] -> [b] -> [c]
Control.Applicative liftA2 :: Applicative f => (a -> b -> c) -> f a -> f b -> f c
Control.Monad liftM2 :: Monad m => (a1 -> a2 -> r) -> m a1 -> m a2 -> m r
Prelude scanl :: (a -> b -> a) -> a -> [b] -> [a]
Data.List scanl :: (a -> b -> a) -> a -> [b] -> [a]
Prelude scanr :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> [a] -> [b]
Data.List scanr :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> [a] -> [b]
Data.List deleteFirstsBy :: (a -> a -> Bool) -> [a] -> [a] -> [a]
Data.List intersectBy :: (a -> a -> Bool) -> [a] -> [a] -> [a]
...

But it shows only list of the signatures of the functions. Sometimes we want to see more information about function. If you use option -i, then additional information will be shown:

$ hoogle -i "(a -> b -> c) -> [a] -> [b] -> [c]"
Prelude zipWith :: (a -> b -> c) -> [a] -> [b] -> [c]

zipWith generalises zip by zipping with the function given as the first argument, instead of a tupling function. For example, zipWith (+) is applied to two lists to produce the list of corresponding sums.

From package base
zipWith :: (a -> b -> c) -> [a] -> [b] -> [c]

And again it is not enough, because it shows only documentation of first function from the list. We have to move a counter to see documentation of further functions, e. g. to show information about third item from the list:

$ hoogle -i -s 3 "(a -> b -> c) -> [a] -> [b] -> [c]"
Control.Applicative liftA2 :: Applicative f => (a -> b -> c) -> f a -> f b -> f c

Lift a binary function to actions.

From package base
liftA2 :: Applicative f => (a -> b -> c) -> f a -> f b -> f c

Easier hoogle usage in bash

It is cumbersome to count each time you want to read info about further functions, so I have prepared bash function which makes it easier.

To search for function type:

$ hoog "(a->b) -> f a -> f b"
1) Data.Traversable fmapDefault :: Traversable t => (a -> b) -> t a -> t b
2) Prelude fmap :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
3) Data.Functor fmap :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
4) Control.Monad fmap :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
5) Control.Monad.Instances fmap :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
6) Data.Functor (<$>) :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
7) Control.Applicative (<$>) :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b

Each function will have its counter at the beginning and just add its number at the end of command to show more information about specific function:

$ hoog "(a->b) -> f a -> f b" 6
Searching for: (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
Data.Functor (<$>) :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b

An infix synonym for fmap.

From package base
(<$>) :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b

How to install hoog command?

Command is available here. To use this command just add it to your ~/bashrc file.

Do not use AllArgsConstructor in your public API

Introduction

Do you think about compatibility of your public API when you modify classes from it? It is especially easy to miss out that something incompatibly changed when you are using Lombok. If you use AllArgsConstructor annotation it will cause many problems.

What is the problem?

Let's define simple class with AllArgsConstructor:

@Data
@AllArgsConstructor
public class Person {
    private final String firstName;
    private final String lastName;
    private Integer age;
}

Now we can use generated constructor in spock test:

def 'use generated allArgsConstructor'() {
    when:
        Person p = new Person('John', 'Smith', 30)
    then:
        with(p) {
            firstName == 'John'
            lastName == 'Smith'
            age == 30
        }
}

And the test is green.

Let's add new optional field to our Person class - email:

@Data
@AllArgsConstructor
public class Person {
    private final String firstName;
    private final String lastName;
    private Integer age;
    private String email;
}

Adding optional field is considered compatible change. But our test fails...

groovy.lang.GroovyRuntimeException: Could not find matching constructor for: com.github.alien11689.allargsconstructor.Person(java.lang.String, java.lang.String, java.lang.Integer)

How to solve this problem?

After adding field add previous constructor

If you still want to use AllArgsConstructor you have to ensure compatibility by adding previous version of constructor on your own:

@Data
@AllArgsConstructor
public class Person {
    private final String firstName;
    private final String lastName;
    private Integer age;
    private String email;

    public Person(String firstName, String lastName, Integer age) {
        this(firstName, lastName, age, null);
    }
}

And now our test again passes.

Annotation lombok.Data is enough

If you use only Data annotation, then constructor, with only mandatory (final) fields, will be generated. It is because Data implies RequiredArgsConstructor:

@Data
public class Person {
    private final String firstName;
    private final String lastName;
    private Integer age;
}

class PersonTest extends Specification {
    def 'use generated requiredFieldConstructor'() {
        when:
            Person p = new Person('John', 'Smith')
            p.age = 30
        then:
            with(p) {
                firstName == 'John'
                lastName == 'Smith'
                age == 30
            }
    }
}

After adding new field email test still passes.

Use Builder annotation

Annotation Builder generates for us PersonBuilder class which helps us create new Person:

@Data
@Builder
public class Person {
    private final String firstName;
    private final String lastName;
    private Integer age;
}

class PersonTest extends Specification {
    def 'use builder'() {
        when:
            Person p = Person.builder()
                    .firstName('John')
                    .lastName('Smith')
                    .age(30).build()
        then:
            with(p) {
                firstName == 'John'
                lastName == 'Smith'
                age == 30
            }
    }
}

After adding email field test still passes.

Conclusion

If you use AllArgsConstructor you have to be sure what are you doing and know issues related to its compatibility. In my opinion the best option is not to use this annotation at all and instead stay with Data or Builder annotation.

Sources are available here.