Issue
Following is a minimal, contrived example:
read :: FilePath -> Aff String
read f = do
log ("File: " <> f) -- (1)
readTextFile UTF8 f -- (2)
I would like to do some debug logging in (1), before a potential error on (2) occurs. Executing following code in Spago REPL works for success cases so far:
$ spago repl
> launchAff_ $ read "test/data/tree/root.txt"
File: test/data/tree/root.txt
unit
Problem: If there is an error with (2) - file is directory here - , (1) seems to be not executed at all:
$ spago repl
> launchAff_ $ read "test/data/tree"
~/purescript-book/exercises/chapter9/.psci_modules/node_modules/Effect.Aff/foreign.js:532
throw util.fromLeft(step);
^
[Error: EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read] {
errno: -21,
code: 'EISDIR',
syscall: 'read'
}
The original problem is more complex including several layers of recursions (see E-Book exercise 3), where I need logging to debug above error.
Questions
How can I properly log regardless upcoming errors here?
(Optional) Is there a more sophisticated, well-established debugging alternative - purescript-debugger? A decicated VS Code debug extension/functionality would be the cherry on the cake.
First of all, the symptoms you observe do not mean that the first line doesn't execute. It does always execute, you're just not seeing output from it due to how console works in the PureScript REPL. The output gets swallowed. Not the only problem with REPL, sadly.
You can verify that the first line is always executed by replacing log with throwError and observing that the error always gets thrown. Or, alternatively, you can make the first line modify a mutable cell instead of writing to the console, and then examine the cell's contents.
Finally, this only happens in REPL. If you put that launchAff_ call inside main and run the program, you will always get the console output.
Now to the actual question at hand: how to debug trace.
Logging to console is fine if you can afford it, but there is a more elegant way: Debug.trace.
This function has a hidden effect - i.e. its type says it's pure, but it really produces an effect when called. This little lie lets you use trace in a pure setting and thus debug pure code. No need for Effect! This is ok as long as used for debugging only, but don't put it in production code.
The way it works is that it takes two parameters: the first one gets printed to console and the second one is a function to be called after printing, and the result of the whole thing is whatever that function returns. For example:
calculateSomething :: Int -> Int -> Int
calculateSomething x y =
trace ("x = " <> show x) \_ ->
x + y
main :: Effect Unit
main =
log $ show $ calculateSomething 37 5
> npx spago run
'x = 37'
42
The first parameter can be anything at all, not just a string. This lets you easily print a lot of stuff:
calculateSomething :: Int -> Int -> Int
calculateSomething x y =
trace { x, y } \_ ->
x + y
> npx spago run
{ x: 37, y: 5 }
42
Or, applying this to your code:
read :: FilePath -> Aff String
read f = trace ("File: " <> f) \_ -> do
readTextFile UTF8 f
But here's a subtle detail: this tracing happens as soon as you call read, even if the resulting Aff will never be actually executed. If you need tracing to happen on effectful execution, you'll need to make the trace call part of the action, and be careful not to make it the very first action in the sequence:
read :: FilePath -> Aff String
read f = do
pure unit
trace ("File: " <> f) \_ -> pure unit
readTextFile UTF8 f
It is, of course, a bit inconvenient to do this every time you need to trace in an effectful context, so there is a special function that does it for you - it's called traceM:
read :: FilePath -> Aff String
read f = do
traceM ("File: " <> f)
readTextFile UTF8 f
If you look at its source code, you'll see that it does exactly what I did in the example above.
The sad part is that trace won't help you in REPL when an exception happens, because it's still printing to console, so it'll still get swallowed for the same reasons.
But even when it doesn't get swallowed, the output is a bit garbled, because trace actually outputs in color (to help you make it out among other output), and PureScript REPL has a complicated relationship with color:
> calculateSomething 37 5
←[32m'x = 37'←[39m
42
In addition to Fyodor Soikin's great answer, I found a variant using VS Code debug view.
1.) Make sure to build with sourcemaps:
spago build --purs-args "-g sourcemaps"
2.) Add debug configuration to VS Code launch.json:
{
"version": "0.2.0",
"configurations": [
{
"type": "pwa-node",
"request": "launch",
"name": "Launch Program",
"skipFiles": ["<node_internals>/**"],
"runtimeArgs": ["-e", "require('./output/Main/index.js').main()"],
"smartStep": true // skips files without (valid) source map
}
]
}
Replace "./output/Main/index.js" / .main() with the compiled .js file / function to be debugged.
3.) Set break points and step through the .purs file via sourcemap support.
I'm running into a problem with the MNP package which I've traced to an unfortunate call to deparse (whose maximum width is limited to 500 characters).
Background (easily skippable if you're bored)
Because mnp uses a somewhat idiosyncratic syntax to allow for varying choice sets (you include cbind(choiceA,choiceB,...) in the formula definition), the left hand side of my formula call is 1700 characters or so when model.matrix.default calls deparse on it. Since deparse supports a maximum width.cutoff of 500 characters, the sapply(attr(t, "variables"), deparse, width.cutoff = 500)[-1L] line in model.matrix.default has as its first element:
[1] "cbind(plan1, plan2, plan3, plan4, plan5, plan6, plan7, plan8, plan9, plan10, plan11, plan12, plan13, plan14, plan15, plan16, plan17, plan18, plan19, plan20, plan21, plan22, plan23, plan24, plan25, plan26, plan27, plan28, plan29, plan30, plan31, plan32, plan33, plan34, plan35, plan36, plan37, plan38, plan39, plan40, plan41, plan42, plan43, plan44, plan45, plan46, plan47, plan48, plan49, plan50, plan51, plan52, plan53, plan54, plan55, plan56, plan57, plan58, plan59, plan60, plan61, plan62, plan63, "
[2] " plan64, plan65, plan66, plan67, plan68, plan69, plan70, plan71, plan72, plan73, plan74, plan75, plan76, plan77, plan78, plan79, plan80, plan81, plan82, plan83, plan84, plan85, plan86, plan87, plan88, plan89, plan90, plan91, plan92, plan93, plan94, plan95, plan96, plan97, plan98, plan99, plan100, plan101, plan102, plan103, plan104, plan105, plan106, plan107, plan108, plan109, plan110, plan111, plan112, plan113, plan114, plan115, plan116, plan117, plan118, plan119, plan120, plan121, plan122, plan123, "
[3] " plan124, plan125, plan126, plan127, plan128, plan129, plan130, plan131, plan132, plan133, plan134, plan135, plan136, plan137, plan138, plan139, plan140, plan141, plan142, plan143, plan144, plan145, plan146, plan147, plan148, plan149, plan150, plan151, plan152, plan153, plan154, plan155, plan156, plan157, plan158, plan159, plan160, plan161, plan162, plan163, plan164, plan165, plan166, plan167, plan168, plan169, plan170, plan171, plan172, plan173, plan174, plan175, plan176, plan177, plan178, plan179, "
[4] " plan180, plan181, plan182, plan183, plan184, plan185, plan186, plan187, plan188, plan189, plan190, plan191, plan192, plan193, plan194, plan195, plan196, plan197, plan198, plan199, plan200, plan201, plan202, plan203, plan204, plan205, plan206, plan207, plan208, plan209, plan210, plan211, plan212, plan213, plan214, plan215, plan216, plan217, plan218, plan219, plan220, plan221, plan222, plan223, plan224, plan225, plan226, plan227, plan228, plan229, plan230, plan231, plan232, plan233, plan234, plan235, "
[5] " plan236, plan237, plan238, plan239, plan240, plan241, plan242, plan243, plan244, plan245, plan246, plan247, plan248, plan249, plan250, plan251, plan252, plan253, plan254, plan255, plan256, plan257, plan258, plan259, plan260, plan261, plan262, plan263, plan264, plan265, plan266, plan267, plan268, plan269, plan270, plan271, plan272, plan273, plan274, plan275, plan276, plan277, plan278, plan279, plan280, plan281, plan282, plan283, plan284, plan285, plan286, plan287, plan288, plan289, plan290, plan291, "
[6] " plan292, plan293, plan294, plan295, plan296, plan297, plan298, plan299, plan300, plan301, plan302, plan303, plan304, plan305, plan306, plan307, plan308, plan309, plan310, plan311, plan312, plan313)"
When model.matrix.default tests this against the variables in the data.frame, it returns an error.
The problem
To get around this, I've written a new deparse function:
deparse <- function (expr, width.cutoff = 60L, backtick = mode(expr) %in%
c("call", "expression", "(", "function"), control = c("keepInteger",
"showAttributes", "keepNA"), nlines = -1L) {
ret <- .Internal(deparse(expr, width.cutoff, backtick, .deparseOpts(control), nlines))
paste0(ret,collapse="")
}
However, when I run mnp again and step through, it returns the same error for the same reason (base::deparse is being run, not my deparse).
This is somewhat surprising to me, as what I expect is more typified by this example, where the user-defined function temporarily over-writes the base function:
> print <- function() {
+ cat("user-defined print ran\n")
+ }
> print()
user-defined print ran
I realize the right way to solve this problem is to rewrite model.matrix.default, but as a tool for debugging I'm curious how to force it to use my deparse and why the anticipated (by me) behavior is not happening here.
The functions fixInNamespace and assignInNamespace are provided to allow editing of existing functions. You could try ... but I will not since mucking with deparse looks too dangerous:
assignInNamespace("deparse",
function (expr, width.cutoff = 60L, backtick = mode(expr) %in%
c("call", "expression", "(", "function"), control = c("keepInteger",
"showAttributes", "keepNA"), nlines = -1L) {
ret <- .Internal(deparse(expr, width.cutoff, backtick, .deparseOpts(control), nlines))
paste0(ret,collapse="")
} , "base")
There is an indication on the help page that the use of such functions has restrictions and I would not be surprised that such core function might have additional layers of protection. Since it works via side-effect, you should not need to assign the result.
This is how packages with namespaces search for functions, as described in Section 1.6, Package Namespaces of Writing R Extensions
Namespaces are sealed once they are loaded. Sealing means that imports
and exports cannot be changed and that internal variable bindings
cannot be changed. Sealing allows a simpler implementation strategy
for the namespace mechanism. Sealing also allows code analysis and
compilation tools to accurately identify the definition corresponding
to a global variable reference in a function body.
The namespace controls the search strategy for variables used by
functions in the package. If not found locally, R searches the package
namespace first, then the imports, then the base namespace and then
the normal search path.