Template Haskell crashes unexpectedly...

21 Aug 2006

      Hi,
I'm starting to explore Template Haskell and I've got the following program:

        -- almost directly from "Template meta-programming in Haskell" paper
        module Duma.Template.Test
            ( Format(..)
            , printf
            ) where

        import Language.Haskell.TH

        data Format = D | S | L String

        printf :: [Format] -> ExpQ
        printf fs = gen fs [| "" |]

        gen :: [Format] -> ExpQ -> ExpQ
        gen [] x = x
        gen (D : xs) x = [| \n -> $(gen xs [| $x ++ show n |]) |]
        gen (S : xs) x = [| \s -> $(gen xs [| $x ++ s |] ) |]
        gen (L s : xs) x = gen xs [| $x ++ $(stringE s) |]

        module Main where

        import Duma.Template.Test
        import Language.Haskell.TH

        data Car = Car {_f :: Int}

        getInfo :: Q Info
        getInfo = reify (mkName "Car")

        main = do
             e <- runQ (printf [D,S,L "foo"])
            putStrLn (pprint e)
            let
                x = $(printf [D,S,L "foo"]) 10 "hello"
            putStrLn x

            -- Crashes if I try to print out the info
            -- info <- runQ getInfo
            -- putStrLn (pprint info)

            _ <- getChar
            return ()

The example from the paper works fine with the few minor adjustements ie 
Expr --> ExpQ, lift --> stringE. However if I try and obtain the Info it 
compiles but then crashes at runtime (using ghc 6.4.2 on Windows).

Any ideas? (Perhaps because the type doesn't exist - yet the first call to 
runQ (printf...) *does* work at runtime)

Also, I'm puzzled by the type of reify, because the name "Car" above should 
surely be both a TyConI and a DataConI so how does this function decide 
which to return the info about? I expected an extra parameter to determine 
what namespace to look the name up in.

BTW what I'm trying to do is write a TH function which adds a field to a 
data type and a corresponding instance method eg given:

    class Object a where
            getName :: a -> Unique
            foo :: a -> Int

    data Square = Square {_f :: Int}

    instance Object Square where
        foo = _f

will modify the above code (or create new instance and new data type) to:

    data Square = Square {_name :: Unique, _f :: Int}

    instance Object Square where
        getName = _name

        foo = _f

ie adding a bit of boilerplate to the data type and instance decl.

Anyway any ideas about why reify doesn't distinguish between lookups of 
name-as-tycon vs name-as-datacon or why it crashes will be greatly 
appreciated ;-)

Thanks, Brian.
-- 
Logic empowers us and Love gives us purpose.
Yet still phantoms restless for eras long past,
congealed in the present in unthought forms,
strive mightily unseen to destroy us.

http://www.metamilk.com

Template Haskell crashes unexpectedly...

Brian Hulley