Lasertag

A Clojure(Script) utility for categorizing types of values.

For a quick summary of how this differs from clojure.core/type, view the tables below.

This lib fell out of work on other Clojure(Script) dev tooling, namely Fireworks so perhaps it may be useful in a similar context.

Usage

Requires Clojure 1.9.0 or higher

If using with Babashka, requires Babashka v1.3.187 or higher

Add as a dependency to your project:

[io.github.paintparty/lasertag "0.8.2"]

Import into your namespace:

(ns myns.core
  (:require
    [lasertag.core :refer [tag tag-map]]))

The function lasertag.core/tag will return a tag describing the category of data type:

(tag 1)         ;; => :int
(tag 1.5)       ;; => :float
(tag "hi")      ;; => :string
(tag :hi)       ;; => :keyword
(tag "#^hi$")   ;; => :regex
(tag [1 2 3])   ;; => :vector
(tag '(1 2 3))  ;; => :seq
(tag (range 3)) ;; => :seq

The tag is a keyword, by default. You can pass an options map if you want a string or symbol:

(tag 1 {:format :string}) ;; => "int"
(tag 1 {:format :symbol}) ;; => int

The function lasertag.core/tag-map will return a map with additional info.

(tag-map "hi")
=>
{:tag           :string
 :all-tags      #{:string}
 :type          #object[String]
 :coll-type?    false
 :map-like?     false
 :number-type?  false}

(defn xy [x y] (+ x y))

(tag-map xy)
=>
{:tag           :function
 :all-tags      #{:function}
 :type          #object[Function]
 :fn-name       "xy" 
 :fn-ns         "myns.core"
 :fn-args       [x y]
 :coll-type?    false
 :map-like?     false
 :number-type?  false}

(tag-map js/ParseFloat)
=>
{:tag                   :function
 :all-tags              #{:function}
 :type                  #object[Function]
 :fn-name               "parseFloat"
 :fn-args               [s]
 :js-built-in-method-of Number
 :js-built-in-function? true
 :coll-type?            false
 :map-like?             false
 :number-type?          false}

;; NOTE: :fn-args entry is only available in cljs
;; NOTE: :fn-name will not work as expected in cljs advanced compilation

With tag-map, There are 3 additional params you can pass with the optional second argument (options map). Setting these to false will exclude certain information. Depending on how you are using tag-map, this could also help with performance.

:include-all-tags?              
:include-function-info?          
:include-js-built-in-object-info?

The following example excludes the :all-tags entry, as well as the related :coll-type?, :map-like?, :number-type? and :coll-size? entries:

(tag-map xy) 
=>
{:tag          :function
 :all-tags     #{:function}
 :type         #object[Function]
 :fn-name      "xy" 
 :fn-ns        "myns.core"
 :fn-args      [x y]
 :coll-type?   false
 :map-like?    false
 :number-type? false}


(tag-map xy {:include-all-tags? false}) 
=>
{:tag          :function
 :type         #object[Function]
 :fn-name      "xy" 
 :fn-ns        "myns.core"
 :fn-args      [x y]}

Excluding the function-info related entries:

(tag-map xy)
=>
{:tag          :function
 :all-tags     #{:function}
 :type         #object[Function]
 :fn-args      [x y]
 :fn-name      "xy"
 :fn-ns        "myns.core"
 :coll-type?   false
 :map-like?    false
 :number-type? false}


(tag-map xy {:include-function-info? false})
=>
{:tag          :function
 :all-tags     #{:function}
 :type         #object[Function]
 :coll-type?   false
 :map-like?    false
 :number-type? false}

Excluding the JS built-in-object related entries:

(tag-map js/JSON)
=>
{:tag                     :js/Object
 :all-tags                #{:js/Object}
 :type                    #object[Object]
 :js-built-in-object?     true
 :js-built-in-object-name "JSON"
 :coll-type?              true
 :map-like?               true
 :number-type?            false}

(tag-map js/JSON {:include-js-built-in-object-info? false})
=>
{:tag                     :js/Object
 :all-tags                #{:js/Object}
 :type                    #object[Object]
 :coll-type?              true
 :map-like?               true
 :number-type?            false}

Examples

Clojure

Below is a table of example values in a JVM Clojure context, and the results of passing each value to lasertag.core/tag, and clojure.core/type.

Input value	lasertag.core/tag	clojure.core/type
"hi"	:string	java.lang.String
:hi	:keyword	clojure.lang.Keyword
"^hi$"	:regex	java.util.regex.Pattern
true	:boolean	java.lang.Boolean
mysym	:symbol	clojure.lang.Symbol
nil	:nil	nil
[1 2 3]	:vector	clojure.lang.PersistentVector
#{1 3 2}	:set	clojure.lang.PersistentHashSet
{:a 2, :b 3}	:map	clojure.lang.PersistentArrayMap
(map inc (range 3))	:seq	clojure.lang.LazySeq
(range 3)	:seq	clojure.lang.LongRange
(:a :b :c)	:seq	clojure.lang.PersistentList
Infinity	:Infinity	java.lang.Double
-Infinity	:-Infinity	java.lang.Double
NaN	:NaN	java.lang.Double
1/3	:ratio	clojure.lang.Ratio
(byte 0)	:int	java.lang.Byte
(short 3)	:int	java.lang.Short
(double 23.44)	:double	java.lang.Double
1M	:decimal	java.math.BigDecimal
1	:int	java.lang.Long
(float 1.5)	:float	java.lang.Float
(char a)	:char	java.lang.Character
(java.math.BigInteger. "171")	:java.math.BigInteger	java.math.BigInteger
(java.util.Date.)	:java.util.Date	java.util.Date
java.util.Date	:java.lang.Class	java.lang.Class

ClojureScript

Below is a table of example values in a ClojureScript context, and the results of passing each value to lasertag.core/tag, and cljs.core/type.

Input value	lasertag.core/tt	cljs.core/type
"hi"	:string	#object[String]
:hi	:keyword	cljs.core/Keyword
"^hi$"	:regex	#object[RegExp]
true	:boolean	#object[Boolean]
mysym	:symbol	cljs.core/Symbol
nil	:nil	nil
[1 2 3]	:vector	cljs.core/PersistentVector
#{1 3 2}	:set	cljs.core/PersistentHashSet
{:a 2, :b 3}	:map	cljs.core/PersistentArrayMap
(map inc (range 3))	:seq	cljs.core/LazySeq
(range 3)	:seq	cljs.core/IntegerRange
(:a :b :c)	:seq	cljs.core/List
Infinity	:Infinity	#object[Boolean]
-Infinity	:-Infinity	#object[Boolean]
js/parseInt	:function	#object[Function]
(new js/Date.)	:js/Date	#object[Date]
(.values #js [1 2 3])	:js/Iterator	#object[Object]
(array "a" "b")	:js/Array	#object[Array]
(new js/Int8Array #js ["a" "b"])	:js/Int8Array	#object[Int8Array]
(new js/Set #js[1 2 3])	:js/Set	#object[Set]

Additional ClojureScript Examples

;; A Record type

(defrecord MyRecordType [a b c d])

(def my-record-type (->MyRecordType 4 8 4 5))

(tag my-record-type) 
=> :myns.core/MyRecordType



;; Multimethod definition

(defmulti different-behavior (fn [x] (:x-type x)))

(tag different-behavior)
=> :defmulti



;; Javascript Promise

(def my-promise (js/Promise. (fn [x] x)))

(tag my-promise) 
=> :js/Promise

Instance methods on JavaScript built-ins

lasertag.core/tag-map can help to differentiate between an instance method on a JS built-in that might have the same name as another instance method on a different JS built-in.

Consider the following 2 values. Both are instance methods on JS built-ins. Both are named concat, although they are different functions that expect different inputs and yield different outputs:

(aget "hi" "concat")
(aget #js [1 2 3] "concat")

Calling js/console.log on either of the values above would result in the same (somewhat cryptic) result in a browser dev console, the exact format of which may vary depending on the browser:

ƒ concat() { [native code] }

Calling clojure.pprint/pprint or clojure.core/println on either of the values above would give you this:

#object[concat]

If you need enhanced reflection in situations like this, the result of lasertag.core/tag-map offers the following 2 entries:
:js-built-in-method-of
:js-built-in-method-of-name

(tag-map (aget "hi" "concat"))
=>
{:js-built-in-method-of      #object[String]
 :js-built-in-method-of-name "String"
 :js-built-in-function?      true
 :coll-type?                 false
 :map-like?                  false
 :fn-name                    "concat"
 :type                       #object[Function]
 :all-tags                   #{:function}
 :fn-args                    []
 :tag                        :function
 :number-type?               false}


(tag-map (aget #js [1 2 3] "concat"))
=>
{:js-built-in-method-of      #object[Array]
 :js-built-in-method-of-name "Array"
 :js-built-in-function?      true
 :coll-type?                 false
 :map-like?                  false
 :fn-name                    "concat"
 :type                       #object[Function]
 :all-tags                   #{:function}
 :fn-args                    []
 :tag                        :function
 :number-type?               false}

Test

The JVM tests require leiningen to be installed.

lein test

The ClojureScript tests:

npm run test

Status

Alpha, subject to change. Currently, the enhanced interop reflection is focused more on the ClojureScript side. It would be nice to add more support for categorizing Java types. Issues welcome, see contributing.

Contributing

Issues for bugs, improvements, or features are very welcome. Please file an issue for discussion before starting or issuing a PR.

License

Copyright © 2024 Jeremiah Coyle

This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0 which is available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0.

This Source Code may also be made available under the following Secondary Licenses when the conditions for such availability set forth in the Eclipse Public License, v. 2.0 are satisfied: GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version, with the GNU Classpath Exception which is available at https://www.gnu.org/software/classpath/license.html.