clojure-concurrency-stm-workshop

references

preface

goals of this workshop:
- introduction into clojure
- basics about clojure syntax
- basics about tests
- showcase of concurrency capabilities of clojure: ref, atom & agent
- understanding how software transactional memory works
- introduction to organizing code with namespaces
- show how to facilitate development using REPL
workshops
- refactor core_atom and fix test
- implement sleeping barber solution

clojure

functional programming language on the JVM with great support for managing state and concurrency
based on two fundamental tools: immutable values and pure functions
syntax derived from its Lisp roots
- Lisps have a tiny language core, almost no syntax, and a powerful macro facility

syntax

parentheses serve two purposes:
- calling functions
  - Clojure assumes that the first symbol appearing in a list represents the name of a function (or a macro)
  - remaining expressions in the list are considered arguments to the function
- constructing lists
  - at the meta level, your entire Clojure program is a series of lists
  - program is interpreted by the Clojure compiler as lists that contain function names and arguments that need to be parsed, evaluated, etc
  - this enables uniquely powerful meta-programming capabilities
    - Clojure code is represented using Clojure data structures
  - list is special because each expression of Clojure code is a list
    - (def three-numbers (1 2 3))
      - CompilerException java.lang.ClassCastException: java.lang.Long cannot be cast to clojure.lang.IFn
      - Clojure is trying to treat the list (1 2 3) the same way as it treats all lists
        
        first element: a function and 1 is not a function
    - (def three-numbers '(1 2 3)) // quoting
symbols and keywords
- symbols = identifiers in a Clojure program (names that signify values)
  - example
    - (+ 1 2)
    - - is a symbol signifying the addition function
  - analogy
    - the word in a dictionary entry is the symbol but the definition of the word is a binding of that word to a particular meaning
- symbols resolve to something else that isn’t a symbol
- keyword = never reference some other value and always evaluate to themselves
  - often used as keys in maps and they provide faster comparisons and lower memory overhead than strings (because instances are cached and reused)
- you can construct keywords and symbols from strings using the keyword and symbol functions

defining function: (defn addition-function [x y] (+ x y))

optional arguments: (defn fn-with-opts [f1 f2 & opts] ,,, )
- similar to varargs in java
- example
```
(defn total-all-numbers [& numbers]
  (apply + numbers))
```

overloading

(defn total-cost
    ([item-cost number-of-items] (* item-cost number-of-items))
    ([item-cost] (total-cost item-cost 1)))

let
- allows you to introduce locally named things
- binds a symbol to a value
- example: (let [a 1 b 2] (+ a b)) // 3

exceptions

(try
    (throw
        (ex-info "The ice cream has melted!"
           {:causes             #{:fridge-door-open :dangerously-high-temperature}
            :current-temperature {:value 25 :unit :celcius}}))

or

(throw (Exception. "this is an error!"))

nil
- nil has the same value as Java null
- everything other than false and nil is considered true

loop / recur

Clojure doesn’t have traditional for loops

example

(defn fact-loop [n]
    (loop [current n fact 1] // exactly as let
    (if (= current 1)
        fact
        (recur (dec current) (* fact current)))))

loop works like let: establishing bindings and then evaluating exprs
- loop sets a recursion point, which can then be targeted by the recur
recur binds new values for loop ’s bindings and returns control to the top of the loop

instead of using a loop, you can recur back to the top of a function

(defn countdown [result x]
    (if (zero? x)
        result
        (recur (conj result x) (dec x))))

list comprehension

(for [x [0 1 2 3 4 5]
      :let [triple (* x 3)] // map -> 0 3 6 9 12 15
      :let [double (* triple 2)] // map -> 0 6 12 18 24 30
      :when (even? double)] // filter - only even
  double)

and a lot of standard methods: map, filter, reduce

useful functions

apply

(max [1 2 3]) // returns [1 2 3]

(apply max [1 2 3]) // 3, same as (max 1 2 3)

partial

(def hundred-times (partial * 100))
(hundred-times 5) // 500

if-let

(defn save-message! [{:keys [params]}]
    (if-let [errors (validate-message params)]
        (println "Errors while parsing: " errors)
        (println "Valid data: " params)))

anonymous function

#(+ 6 %) // (fn [x] (+ 6 x))
#(+ %1 %2) // (fn [x y] (+ x y))
#(println %1 %2 %&) // (fn [x y & zs] (println x y zs))

constantly

(constantly 5) // returns a function that takes any number of arguments and returns 5

collections

simplest way to model data is to use Map
- in Clojure: change is always modeled as the application of a pure function to an immutable value, resulting in a new immutable value
- (assoc {} :name "Michal" :age 30) // adds
- (dissoc {:a 1 :b 2 :c 3} :b) // removes
- (update person :age inc) // modifies
- get from map
  - (get earth :name), (get earth :name "default name")
  - (earth :name) // invoking the map
  - (:name earth), (:name earth "default name") // invoking the keyword key
    - preferred method
- working with nested maps
  - (assoc-in users [:kyle :summary :average :monthly] 3000) // new entry
    - if any nested map doesn’t exist along the way, it gets created and correctly associated
  - (get-in users [:kyle :summary :average :monthly])
  - (update-in users [:kyle :summary :average :monthly] + 500)
other collections
- list
- vector: [10 20 30 40 50]
  - indexed by number
- set
- operations
  - conj add elements at the natural insertion point
    - lists: at the beginning
    - vectors: at the end
  - bulk updates
    - call transient to get a mutable version of a collection
    - transient collections can’t be conj and assoc
      - equivalent set of functions that mutate the instance, all with a ! suffix
        
        conj! , assoc!
    - when mutation is complete, call persistent! to get back to a persistent collection

namespaces

namespaces provide a means to organize our code and the names we use in our code
is both a name context and a container for vars
- vars are associations between a name (a symbol) and a value
- vars are created using def and other special forms or macros that start with def, like defn
- all vars are globally accessible via their fully-qualified name
convention: namespace names are typically lower-case and use - to separate words
Clojure runtime tracks the current namespace in the var clojure.core/ns

repl

current namespace: *ns*
switch to existing namespace: in-ns
- example: (in-ns 'workshop.barber.core)
if the namespace is not used in the main class of the project (directly or indirectly), it won't be accessible without first requiring it
```
(require '[workshop.barber.core :as barber])
barber/max-chairs
(in-ns 'workshop.barber.core)
```

leiningen

offers various project-related tasks and can:
- create new projects
- fetch dependencies for your project
- run tests
- run a fully-configured REPL
- run the project
- compile and package projects for deployment
- run custom automation tasks written in Clojure (leiningen plug-ins)
Leiningen could be thought of as "Maven meets Ant without the pain"
project
- a directory containing a group of Clojure source files
- metadata about them
  - project name
  - project description
  - dependencies
  - Clojure version
  - main namespace of the app
Clojure libraries are distributed the same way as in other JVM languages: as jar files
- Leiningen by default uses
  - clojars.org (Clojure community's centralized Maven repository)
  - Maven Central
extra arguments to the JVM: :jvm-opts vector
useful commands
- lein run
- lein test
- lein repl

concurrency

identity and state as separate things
- state = value or set of values belonging to an identity
  - or in different words: the value of an identity at a particular point time
- identity = series of states, separated by time
analogy
- person’s favorite set of movies
- as a child: Disney and Pixar
- grownup: Tim Burton or Robert Zemeckis
- what changes over time?
  - not the set itself but which set the entity favorite-movies refers to
- identity = favorite movies
  - subject of all the action in the associated program
- state = sequence of favorite movies
  - sequence of values that this identity assumes over the course of the program
clojure has four reference types to store state
- Refs: coordinated, synchronous changes to shared state
- Atoms: uncoordinated, synchronous changes to shared state
- Agents: asynchronous changes to shared state
- Vars: thread-local state
mechanism provides a mutable container storing an immutable value
reference types implement IRef
table of functions

IRef create-fn update-fn(s) set-fn

Atom atom swap! reset!

Ref ref alter, commute ref-set

Var def alter-var-root var-set

Agent agent send, send-off restart-agent
summary
- to create: (create-fn container)
- to update: (update-fn container data-fn & args)
- to assign a value: (set-fn container new-val)
- get data: @ reader macro
software transaction memory
- refs are mutable, you must protect their updates
```
(ref-set demo "new value")
-> java.lang.IllegalStateException: No transaction running
```
- transactions are wrapped in a dosync
```
(dosync & exprs)
```
- example
```
(dosync (ref-set demo "new value"))
-> "new value"
```
- properties
  - like database transactions
  - allows programmers to describe reads and writes to stateful references in the scope of a transaction
  - atomic
    - if you change more than one ref in a single transaction, the changes are all coordinated to "happen at the same time" from the perspective of any code outside the transaction
  - consistent
    - refs can specify validation functions
  - isolated
    - transactions can’t see partially completed results from other transactions
  - transactions are in-memory transactions, Clojure does not guarantee that updates are durable
- details
  - uses a technique called Multiversion Concurrency Control (MVCC)
  - steps
    1. Transaction A begins by taking a point, which is simply a number that acts as a unique timestamp in the STM world
      - Transaction A has access to its own effectively private copy of any reference it needs, associated with the point
        
        persistent data structures make it cheap to provide these effectively private copies
    2. During Transaction A, operations on a ref work against (and return) the transaction’s private copy of the ref’s data, called the in-transaction value
    3. If at any point the STM detects that another transaction has already set/altered a ref that Transaction A wants to set/alter, Transaction A is forced to retry
    4. If and when Transaction A commits, its heretofore private writes will become visible to the world, associated with a single point in the transaction timeline.
- alter vs commute
  - you probably want to use alter most of the time
  - commute is an optimized version of alter
    - if the STM is deciding if your transaction is safe to commit and has conflicts only on commute operations (none on alter operations) then it can commit without having to restart
    - example: incrementing the counter
  - the last in-transaction value you see from a commute will not always match the end-of-transaction value of a ref, because of reordering
```
(def counter (ref 0))

(defn commute-inc! [counter]
  (dosync (Thread/sleep 100) (commute counter inc)))

(defn alter-inc! [counter]
     (dosync (Thread/sleep 100) (alter counter inc)))

(defn bombard-counter! [n f counter]
  (apply pcalls (repeat n #(f counter))))

(defn -main [& args]
  (println (time (doall (bombard-counter! 20 commute-inc! counter)))) // compare with alter-inc!
  (println @counter)
  (shutdown-agents))
```
    results
```
// with commute
"Elapsed time: 226.6494 msecs"
(9 6 1 3 3 3 1 3 3 1 3 12 12 16 18 12 12 12 20 12)
20

// with alter
"Elapsed time: 2224.0148 msecs"
(2 5 6 1 10 12 8 16 13 4 3 11 9 7 14 20 15 17 19 18)
20
```
  - example for commit order
```
(defn tid [] (.getId (Thread/currentThread)))
(defn debug
  [ msg ]
  (print (str msg (apply str (repeat (- 35 (count msg)) \space))  " tid: " (tid)  "\n"))
  (flush))

(def a (ref 1))

(defn do-transaction [_]
  (dosync
    (alter a + 1) // or commute a + 1
    (debug (str "in transaction value: " @a))
  )
)

(doseq [dummyagent (range 1 6)]
  (send-off (agent  dummyagent) do-transaction)
)
```
    results
```
in transaction value: 2             tid: 12
in transaction value: 3             tid: 15 // failed, will be retried
in transaction value: 3             tid: 14 // failed, will be retried
in transaction value: 3             tid: 11
in transaction value: 4             tid: 15 // retried and succeed
in transaction value: 5             tid: 13
in transaction value: 6             tid: 14 // retried and succeed
```

testing

example

(deftest public-function-in-namespace-test
  (testing "A description of the test"
    (is (= 1 (public-function arg)))))

deftest
- is a collection of assertions, with or without testing expressions
- can be called like any other function
  - can be grouped and composed
```
(deftest addition
  (is (= 4 (+ 2 2)))
  (is (= 7 (+ 3 4))))

(deftest subtraction
  (is (= 1 (- 4 3)))
  (is (= 3 (- 7 4))))

(deftest arithmetic
  (addition)
  (subtraction))
```
- naming convention: name of the function it is testing with -test as a postfix
testing
- is a macro to group multiple assertions together
- provides a string in which to describe the context the assertions are testing
"is" takes an optional second argument, a string describing the assertion
- (is (= 4 (+ 2 2)) "sum should be 4")
"are" macro can also be used to define assertions, especially when there would otherwise be multiple assertions that only differ by their test data
```
(are [x y] (= x y)
              2 (+ 1 1)
              4 (* 2 2))
```
expecting exception
- (is (thrown? ArithmeticException (/ 1 0)))
- with specific message
  - (is (thrown-with-msg? ArithmeticException #"Divide by zero" (/ 1 0)))

fixtures

allow you to run code before and after tests

scaffold

(defn my-fixture [test-function]
   ;; Setup: define bindings, create state, etc.

  (test-function) ;; Run the relevant tests for the fixture (see `use-fixtures`)

   ;; Tear-down: reset state to a known value
 )

example

(defn database-reset-fixture
  [test-function]
  (SUT/create-database)
  (test-function)
  (SUT/delete-database))

running
- run the fixtures once for the namespace
  - (use-fixtures :once fixture1 fixture2)
- run the fixtures for each `deftest** in the namespace
  - (use-fixtures :each fixture1 fixture2)

property based testing
- core idea of test.check is that instead of enumerating expected input and output for unit tests, you write properties about your function that should hold true for all input
- imports
```
(ns my.test
  (:require [clojure.test.check :as tc]
            [clojure.test.check.generators :as gen]
            [clojure.test.check.properties :as prop :include-macros true]))
```
- example
  - sorting property: applying sort twice should be equivalent to applying it once
```
(def sort-idempotent-prop
  (prop/for-all [v (gen/vector gen/int)]
                (= (sort v) (sort (sort v)))))

(tc/quick-check 100 sort-idempotent-prop)
```
- what happens if our test fails?
  - test.check will try and find ‘smaller’ inputs that still fail
  - this process is called shrinking

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 20 Commits
src/workshop		src/workshop
test/workshop/bank		test/workshop/bank
.gitignore		.gitignore
.travis.yml		.travis.yml
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
project.clj		project.clj

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clojure-concurrency-stm-workshop

preface

clojure

syntax

collections

namespaces

repl

leiningen

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testing

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IRef	create-fn	update-fn(s)	set-fn
Atom	atom	swap!	reset!
Ref	ref	alter, commute	ref-set
Var	def	alter-var-root	var-set
Agent	agent	send, send-off	restart-agent

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