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diff --git a/doc/manual/src/language/constructs.md b/doc/manual/src/language/constructs.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..1c01f2cc7 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/manual/src/language/constructs.md @@ -0,0 +1,354 @@ +# Language Constructs + +## Recursive sets + +Recursive sets are just normal sets, but the attributes can refer to +each other. For example, + +```nix +rec { + x = y; + y = 123; +}.x +``` + +evaluates to `123`. Note that without `rec` the binding `x = y;` would +refer to the variable `y` in the surrounding scope, if one exists, and +would be invalid if no such variable exists. That is, in a normal +(non-recursive) set, attributes are not added to the lexical scope; in a +recursive set, they are. + +Recursive sets of course introduce the danger of infinite recursion. For +example, the expression + +```nix +rec { + x = y; + y = x; +}.x +``` + +will crash with an `infinite recursion encountered` error message. + +## Let-expressions + +A let-expression allows you to define local variables for an expression. +For instance, + +```nix +let + x = "foo"; + y = "bar"; +in x + y +``` + +evaluates to `"foobar"`. + +## Inheriting attributes + +When defining a set or in a let-expression it is often convenient to +copy variables from the surrounding lexical scope (e.g., when you want +to propagate attributes). This can be shortened using the `inherit` +keyword. For instance, + +```nix +let x = 123; in +{ inherit x; + y = 456; +} +``` + +is equivalent to + +```nix +let x = 123; in +{ x = x; + y = 456; +} +``` + +and both evaluate to `{ x = 123; y = 456; }`. (Note that this works +because `x` is added to the lexical scope by the `let` construct.) It is +also possible to inherit attributes from another set. For instance, in +this fragment from `all-packages.nix`, + +```nix +graphviz = (import ../tools/graphics/graphviz) { + inherit fetchurl stdenv libpng libjpeg expat x11 yacc; + inherit (xlibs) libXaw; +}; + +xlibs = { + libX11 = ...; + libXaw = ...; + ... +} + +libpng = ...; +libjpg = ...; +... +``` + +the set used in the function call to the function defined in +`../tools/graphics/graphviz` inherits a number of variables from the +surrounding scope (`fetchurl` ... `yacc`), but also inherits `libXaw` +(the X Athena Widgets) from the `xlibs` (X11 client-side libraries) set. + +Summarizing the fragment + +```nix +... +inherit x y z; +inherit (src-set) a b c; +... +``` + +is equivalent to + +```nix +... +x = x; y = y; z = z; +a = src-set.a; b = src-set.b; c = src-set.c; +... +``` + +when used while defining local variables in a let-expression or while +defining a set. + +## Functions + +Functions have the following form: + +```nix +pattern: body +``` + +The pattern specifies what the argument of the function must look like, +and binds variables in the body to (parts of) the argument. There are +three kinds of patterns: + + - If a pattern is a single identifier, then the function matches any + argument. Example: + + ```nix + let negate = x: !x; + concat = x: y: x + y; + in if negate true then concat "foo" "bar" else "" + ``` + + Note that `concat` is a function that takes one argument and returns + a function that takes another argument. This allows partial + parameterisation (i.e., only filling some of the arguments of a + function); e.g., + + ```nix + map (concat "foo") [ "bar" "bla" "abc" ] + ``` + + evaluates to `[ "foobar" "foobla" "fooabc" ]`. + + - A *set pattern* of the form `{ name1, name2, …, nameN }` matches a + set containing the listed attributes, and binds the values of those + attributes to variables in the function body. For example, the + function + + ```nix + { x, y, z }: z + y + x + ``` + + can only be called with a set containing exactly the attributes `x`, + `y` and `z`. No other attributes are allowed. If you want to allow + additional arguments, you can use an ellipsis (`...`): + + ```nix + { x, y, z, ... }: z + y + x + ``` + + This works on any set that contains at least the three named + attributes. + + It is possible to provide *default values* for attributes, in + which case they are allowed to be missing. A default value is + specified by writing `name ? e`, where *e* is an arbitrary + expression. For example, + + ```nix + { x, y ? "foo", z ? "bar" }: z + y + x + ``` + + specifies a function that only requires an attribute named `x`, but + optionally accepts `y` and `z`. + + - An `@`-pattern provides a means of referring to the whole value + being matched: + + ```nix + args@{ x, y, z, ... }: z + y + x + args.a + ``` + + but can also be written as: + + ```nix + { x, y, z, ... } @ args: z + y + x + args.a + ``` + + Here `args` is bound to the entire argument, which is further + matched against the pattern `{ x, y, z, + ... }`. `@`-pattern makes mainly sense with an ellipsis(`...`) as + you can access attribute names as `a`, using `args.a`, which was + given as an additional attribute to the function. + + > **Warning** + > + > The `args@` expression is bound to the argument passed to the + > function which means that attributes with defaults that aren't + > explicitly specified in the function call won't cause an + > evaluation error, but won't exist in `args`. + > + > For instance + > + > ```nix + > let + > function = args@{ a ? 23, ... }: args; + > in + > function {} + > ```` + > + > will evaluate to an empty attribute set. + +Note that functions do not have names. If you want to give them a name, +you can bind them to an attribute, e.g., + +```nix +let concat = { x, y }: x + y; +in concat { x = "foo"; y = "bar"; } +``` + +## Conditionals + +Conditionals look like this: + +```nix +if e1 then e2 else e3 +``` + +where *e1* is an expression that should evaluate to a Boolean value +(`true` or `false`). + +## Assertions + +Assertions are generally used to check that certain requirements on or +between features and dependencies hold. They look like this: + +```nix +assert e1; e2 +``` + +where *e1* is an expression that should evaluate to a Boolean value. If +it evaluates to `true`, *e2* is returned; otherwise expression +evaluation is aborted and a backtrace is printed. + +Here is a Nix expression for the Subversion package that shows how +assertions can be used:. + +```nix +{ localServer ? false +, httpServer ? false +, sslSupport ? false +, pythonBindings ? false +, javaSwigBindings ? false +, javahlBindings ? false +, stdenv, fetchurl +, openssl ? null, httpd ? null, db4 ? null, expat, swig ? null, j2sdk ? null +}: + +assert localServer -> db4 != null; ① +assert httpServer -> httpd != null && httpd.expat == expat; ② +assert sslSupport -> openssl != null && (httpServer -> httpd.openssl == openssl); ③ +assert pythonBindings -> swig != null && swig.pythonSupport; +assert javaSwigBindings -> swig != null && swig.javaSupport; +assert javahlBindings -> j2sdk != null; + +stdenv.mkDerivation { + name = "subversion-1.1.1"; + ... + openssl = if sslSupport then openssl else null; ④ + ... +} +``` + +The points of interest are: + +1. This assertion states that if Subversion is to have support for + local repositories, then Berkeley DB is needed. So if the Subversion + function is called with the `localServer` argument set to `true` but + the `db4` argument set to `null`, then the evaluation fails. + + Note that `->` is the [logical + implication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_table#Logical_implication) + Boolean operation. + +2. This is a more subtle condition: if Subversion is built with Apache + (`httpServer`) support, then the Expat library (an XML library) used + by Subversion should be same as the one used by Apache. This is + because in this configuration Subversion code ends up being linked + with Apache code, and if the Expat libraries do not match, a build- + or runtime link error or incompatibility might occur. + +3. This assertion says that in order for Subversion to have SSL support + (so that it can access `https` URLs), an OpenSSL library must be + passed. Additionally, it says that *if* Apache support is enabled, + then Apache's OpenSSL should match Subversion's. (Note that if + Apache support is not enabled, we don't care about Apache's + OpenSSL.) + +4. The conditional here is not really related to assertions, but is + worth pointing out: it ensures that if SSL support is disabled, then + the Subversion derivation is not dependent on OpenSSL, even if a + non-`null` value was passed. This prevents an unnecessary rebuild of + Subversion if OpenSSL changes. + +## With-expressions + +A *with-expression*, + +```nix +with e1; e2 +``` + +introduces the set *e1* into the lexical scope of the expression *e2*. +For instance, + +```nix +let as = { x = "foo"; y = "bar"; }; +in with as; x + y +``` + +evaluates to `"foobar"` since the `with` adds the `x` and `y` attributes +of `as` to the lexical scope in the expression `x + y`. The most common +use of `with` is in conjunction with the `import` function. E.g., + +```nix +with (import ./definitions.nix); ... +``` + +makes all attributes defined in the file `definitions.nix` available as +if they were defined locally in a `let`-expression. + +The bindings introduced by `with` do not shadow bindings introduced by +other means, e.g. + +```nix +let a = 3; in with { a = 1; }; let a = 4; in with { a = 2; }; ... +``` + +establishes the same scope as + +```nix +let a = 1; in let a = 2; in let a = 3; in let a = 4; in ... +``` + +## Comments + +Comments can be single-line, started with a `#` character, or +inline/multi-line, enclosed within `/* ... */`. |