Artur Swiderski (Jan 09 2024 at 18:53): Artur Swiderski (Jan 09 2024 at 18:53):hi, I am getting following weird error
The andMode value depends on itself through the following chain of
definitions:
┌─────┐
│ andMode
│ ↓
│ commandsToHandlers
│ ↓
│ commandAnalysis
│ ↓
│ recoverConfigFromInput
└─────┘
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
it is strange because this loop is exactly what I want to achieve (something perfectly feasible in all languages I know of but Roc)
Richard Feldman (Jan 09 2024 at 19:00):this error should be about something that's only supported in lazy language like Haskell
Richard Feldman (Jan 09 2024 at 19:02):for example, of course this can't work:
x = x
because x can't be defined in terms of itself unless x is a function and it's referring to itself in the body
Richard Feldman (Jan 09 2024 at 19:02):similarly, this can't possibly work:
a = b
b = a
or this:
a = b
b = c
c = a
so this compile error is saying the code has something like one of these, where in order to complete a = ... the compiler has to already know what a is, which isn't possible
Richard Feldman (Jan 09 2024 at 19:05):lazy languages like Haskell can do this because they automatically wrap all definitions in function calls, so they end up in the "a function can refer to itself in the body" situation every time even though it doesn't look like it syntactically
Artur Swiderski (Jan 09 2024 at 19:09):ok I get that, it happens most likely because the function, which is calling indirectly itself, enters the game as value(handler) and its called in similar fashion as "C" handlers frequently are. ok I will find workaround somehow
Artur Swiderski (Jan 09 2024 at 19:12):if this was "normal" function I think I can do f -> h -> f ? I think I have done that in the past, am I correct ?
Richard Feldman (Jan 09 2024 at 19:13):yeah, that should work fine!
Artur Swiderski (Jan 09 2024 at 19:23):btw. is this possible for Roc in the future to recognize that
a = f(.. , c )
b = g(.. , a )
c = h(.. ,b)
a, b and c are in reality functions so it is perfectly ok to have this structure or this will be always limitation ?
Richard Feldman (Jan 09 2024 at 19:28):so f is returning a function here?
Artur Swiderski (Jan 09 2024 at 19:35):yes all functions , I don't know if I have described correctly (in terms of math annotation) but I hope you get the point
Artur Swiderski (Jan 09 2024 at 19:39):I have got over my problem this time but at some point handlers may be the easiest way to solve some other problems. I could try something different but still intuitively expectation is that is should work
Richard Feldman (Jan 09 2024 at 19:54):ah, so if they're all functions, then I think you should be able to make it work by explicitly wrapping them in lambdas, e.g. if the function returned by f takes 2 argument, then:
a = \arg1, arg2 -> (f ...) arg1 arg2
I think that should work
Richard Feldman (Jan 09 2024 at 19:55):if I remember right, there was some detail that led us to decide we should require explicit lambdas in that situation, but I don't remember the reasoning anymore
Artur Swiderski (Jan 09 2024 at 20:58):ok, I will check if this tip works for me, thx
Artur Swiderski (Jan 09 2024 at 23:43):ok in my case things aren't as simple as I initially presented
https://github.com/salarii/peek/blob/main/Commands.roc
275 #|> Dict.insert "dsdsa" andMode
Anton (Jan 10 2024 at 10:16):Interesting... I can try to look at this today
Anton (Jan 10 2024 at 19:24):I won't make it for today, I should be able to take a look on Friday if no one else is available until then.
Anton (Jan 12 2024 at 20:15):Today's tasks took longer then expected, I should have time tomorrow
Anton (Jan 13 2024 at 16:09):So this is the infinite loop:
addMode can call recoverConfigFromInputrecoverConfigFromInput can call commandAnalysiscommandAnalysis calls commandsToHandlerscommandsToHandlers calls andMode Anton (Jan 13 2024 at 16:09):This is the simplified version that creates the same error as your code:
app "helloWorld"
packages { pf: "https://github.com/roc-lang/basic-cli/releases/download/0.7.1/Icc3xJoIixF3hCcfXrDwLCu4wQHtNdPyoJkEbkgIElA.tar.br" }
imports [pf.Stdout]
provides [main] to pf
main =
Stdout.line "Hello, World!"
andMode : I64 -> List Str
andMode = \num -> recoverConfigFromInput num
recoverConfigFromInput : I64 -> List Str
recoverConfigFromInput = \num -> commandAnalysis num
commandAnalysis : I64 -> List Str
commandAnalysis = \_num ->
Dict.keys (commandsToHandlers)
commandsToHandlers : Dict Str ( I64 -> List Str )
commandsToHandlers =
Dict.empty {}
|> Dict.insert "dsdsa" andMode
Further simplified:
andMode : I64 -> List Str
andMode = \num -> commandAnalysis num
commandAnalysis : I64 -> List Str
commandAnalysis = \_num ->
Dict.keys (commandsToHandlers)
commandsToHandlers : Dict Str ( I64 -> List Str )
commandsToHandlers =
Dict.empty {}
|> Dict.insert "dsdsa" andMode
Even further:
andMode : I64 -> List Str
andMode = \num -> Dict.keys (commandsToHandlers)
commandsToHandlers : Dict Str ( I64 -> List Str )
commandsToHandlers =
Dict.empty {}
|> Dict.insert "dsdsa" andMode
But this code can actually be run:
main = Stdout.line (Inspect.toStr (andMode 0))
andMode : I64 -> List Str
andMode = \num -> Dict.keys (commandsToHandlers)
commandsToHandlers : Dict Str ( I64 -> List Str )
commandsToHandlers =
Dict.empty {}
|> Dict.insert "dsdsa" andMode
That prints ["dsdsa"]
Anton (Jan 13 2024 at 16:16):Building does still yield the error:
Screenshot_20240113_171612.png
Anton (Jan 13 2024 at 16:17):So the code works because it does not rely on any value of the Dict, only on the keys.
Anton (Jan 13 2024 at 16:22):I'm not sure what we should do about this :thinking:
David Dunn (Jan 18 2024 at 20:32):commandsToHandlers never executes andMode. What does "depends on" (from the error message) mean in this context? I thought it meant "executes", which would lead to the mentioned infinite loop.
Brendan Hansknecht (Jan 18 2024 at 20:42):I think depends on means requires a definition of.
Last updated: Jul 26 2025 at 12:14 UTC