closeable-map

Your application state is like your hens: it's safe when it is securely contained in a chicken coop with automated doors to prevent chicken run-away. Think about Zelda: when hens are free to propagate everywhere, they attack you and it becomes a mess.

This small library defines a new type of Clojure map that you may (.close m). See it in action above. It is a tiny alternative to more capable projects:

• Application state management: stuartsierra/component, weavejester/integrant, tolitius/mount, et al.

• Extension of with-open: jarohen/with-open

• Representing state in a map: robertluo/fun-map

In your project, require:

(require '[piotr-yuxuan.closeable-map :as closeable-map :refer [with-tag]])

Then you can define an application that can be started, and closed.

(defn start
  "Return a running context with values that can be closed."
  [config]
  (closeable-map/closeable-map
    {;; Kafka producers/consumers are `java.io.Closeable`.
     :producer (kafka-producer config)
     :consumer (kafka-consumer config)

     ;; Closeable maps can be nested.
     :backend/api {:response-executor (flow/utilization-executor (:executor config))
                   :connection-pool (http/connection-pool {:pool-opts config})

                   ;; File streams are `java.io.Closeable` too:
                   :logfile (io/output-stream (io/file "/tmp/log.txt"))

                   ;; This will be called as final closing step for
                   ;; this nested map backend/api. See also
                   ;; `::closeable-map/before-close` which is called
                   ;; before closing a map.
                   ::closeable-map/after-close
                   (fn [m]
                     ;; Some classes have similar semantic, but do not
                     ;; implement `java.io.Closeable`. We can handle
                     ;; them anyway.
                     (.shutdown ^ExecutorService (:response-executor m))
                     (.shutdown ^IPool (:connection-pool m)))}

     ;; Any exception when closing this nested map will be swallowed
     ;; and not bubbled up.
     :db ^::closeable-map/swallow {;; Connection are `java.io.Closeable`, too:
                                   :db-conn (jdbc/get-connection (:db config))}

     ;; Some libs return a zero-argument function which when called
     ;; stops the server, like:
     :server (with-tag ::closeable-map/fn (http/start-server (api config) (:server config)))
     ;; Gotcha: Clojure meta data can only be attached on 'concrete'
     ;; objects; they are lost on literal forms (see above).
     :forensic ^::closeable-map/fn #(metrics/report-death!)

     ::closeable-map/ex-handler
     (fn [ex]
       ;; Will be called for all exceptions thrown when closing this
       ;; map and nested items.
       (println (ex-message ex)))}))

Then you can start/stop the app in the repl with:

(comment
  (def config (load-config))
  (def system (start config))

  ;; Stop/close all processes/resources with:
  (.close system)
)

You can use it in conjunction with with-open like in test file:

(with-open [system (start config)]
  (testing "unit test with isolated, repeatable context"
    (is (= :yay/🚀 (some-business/function context)))))

When (.close system) is executed, it will:

• Recursively close all instances of java.io.Closeable and java.lang.AutoCloseable;

• Recursively call all stop zero-argument functions tagged with ^::closeable-map/fn;

• Skip all nested Closeable under a ^::closeable-map/ignore;

• Silently swallow any exception with ^::closeable-map/swallow;

• Exceptions to optional ::closeable-map/ex-handler in key or metadata;

• If keys (or metadata) ::closeable-map/before-close or ::closeable-map/after-close are present, they will be assumed as a function which takes one argument (the map itself) and used run additional closing logic:

  (closeable-map
    {;; This function will be executed before the auto close.
     ::closeable-map/before-close (fn [this-map] (flush!))
  
     ;; Kafka producers/consumers are java.io.Closeable
     :producer (kafka-producer config)
     :consumer (kafka-consumer config)
  
     ;; This function will be executed after the auto close.
     ::closeable-map/after-close (fn [this-map] (garbage/collect!))
    }
  )
  

• You can easily extend this library by giving new dispatch values to multimethod [[piotr-yuxuan.closeable-map/close!]]. It is dispatched on the concrete class of its argument.

  (import '(java.util.concurrent ExecutorService))
  (defmethod closeable-map/close! ExecutorService
    [x]
    (.shutdown ^ExecutorService x))
  
  (import '(io.aleph.dirigiste IPool))
  (defmethod closeable-map/close! IPool
    [x]
    (.shutdown ^IPool x))
  

Technicalities

Some Clojure datastructures implement IFn:

({:a 1} :a) ;; => 1
(remove #{:a} [:a :b :c]) ;; => '(:b :c)
([:a :b :c] 1) ;; => :b

Clojure maps (IPersistentMap) implement IFn, for invoke() of one argument (a key) with an optional second argument (a default value), i.e. maps are functions of their keys. nil keys and values are fine.

This library defines a new data strucure, CloseableMap. It is exposed as an instance of java.io.Closeable which is a subinterface of java.lang.AutoCloseable. When trying to close its values, it looks for instances of the latter. As such, it tries to be most general.

(require '[clojure.data])

(clojure.data/diff
  (ancestors (class {}))
  (ancestors CloseableMap))

;; =>
[;; Ancestors of Clojure map only but not CloseableMap.
 #{clojure.lang.AFn ; Concrete type, but see below for IFn.
   clojure.lang.APersistentMap
   clojure.lang.IEditableCollection
   clojure.lang.IKVReduce
   clojure.lang.IMapIterable
   java.io.Serializable}

 ;; Ancestors of CloseableMap only.
 #{clojure.lang.IType
   java.io.Closeable
   java.lang.AutoCloseable
   java.util.Iterator
   potemkin.collections.PotemkinMap
   potemkin.types.PotemkinType}

 ;; Ancestors common to both types.
 #{clojure.lang.Associative
   clojure.lang.Counted
   clojure.lang.IFn
   clojure.lang.IHashEq
   clojure.lang.ILookup
   clojure.lang.IMeta
   clojure.lang.IObj
   clojure.lang.IPersistentCollection
   clojure.lang.IPersistentMap
   clojure.lang.MapEquivalence
   clojure.lang.Seqable
   java.lang.Iterable
   java.lang.Object
   java.lang.Runnable
   java.util.Map
   java.util.concurrent.Callable}]