NAME
Mic::Contracts
SYNOPSIS
# example.pl
use Mic::Contracts
'Foo' => { all => 1 }, # all contracts are run
'Bar' => { post => 1 }, # postconditions (and preconditions) are run
'Baz' => { pre => 0 }; # all contracts are skipped
use Foo;
use Bar;
use Baz;
# do stuff with Foo, Bar and BazDESCRIPTION
Allows contracts to be enabled for a given class or interface.
An Example
The following example illustrates the use of contracts, which are assertions that constrain the visible behaviour of objects.
package Example::Contracts::BoundedQueue;
use Mic::Class
interface => {
class => {
new => {
require => {
positive_int_size => sub {
my (undef, $arg) = @_;
$arg->{max_size} =~ /^\d+$/ && $arg->{max_size} > 0;
},
},
ensure => {
zero_sized => sub {
my ($obj) = @_;
$obj->size == 0;
},
}
},
},
object => {
head => {},
tail => {},
size => {},
max_size => {},
push => {
ensure => {
size_increased => sub {
my ($self, $old) = @_;
return $self->size < $self->max_size
? $self->size == $old->size + 1
: 1;
},
tail_updated => sub {
my ($self, $old, $results, $item) = @_;
$self->tail == $item;
},
}
},
pop => {
require => {
not_empty => sub {
my ($self) = @_;
$self->size > 0;
},
},
ensure => {
returns_old_head => sub {
my ($self, $old, $results) = @_;
$results->[0] == $old->head;
},
}
},
},
invariant => {
max_size_not_exceeded => sub {
my ($self) = @_;
$self->size <= $self->max_size;
},
},
},
implementation => 'Example::Contracts::Acme::BoundedQueue_v1',
;
1;The contract constrains the behaviour of its implementation in various ways:
The precondition on
newrequires that its argument is a positive integer.The postconditions on
pushensure that the queue size increases by one after a push, and that the newly pushed item is at the back of the queue.The postcondition on
popensures that a popped item was previously at the front of the queue.The invariant ensures that the queue never exceeds its maximum size.
Types of Contracts
Preconditions (require)
A precondition is an assertion that is run before a given method, that defines one or more conditions that must be met in order for the given method to be callable.
Preconditions are specified using the require key of a contract definition. The corresponding value is a hash of description => subroutine pairs.
Each such subroutine is a method that receives the same parameters as the method the precondition is attached to, and returns either a true or false result. If false is returned, an exception is raised indicating which precondition was violated.
Postconditions (ensure)
A postcondition is an assertion that is run after a given method, that defines one or more conditions that must be met after the given method has been called.
Postconditions are specified using the ensure key of a contract definition. The corresponding value is a hash of description => subroutine pairs.
Each such subroutine is a method that receives the following parameters: the object as it is after the method call, the object as it was before the method call, the results of the method call stored in array ref, and any parameters that were passed to the method.
The subroutine should return either a true or false result. If false is returned, an exception is raised indicating which postcondition was violated.
Invariants
An invariant is an assertion that is run before and after every method in the interface, that defines one or more conditions that must be met before and after the method has been called.
Invariants are specified using the invariant key of a interface definition. The corresponding value is a hash of description => subroutine pairs.
Each such subroutine is a method that receives the object as its only parameter, and returns either a true or false result. If false is returned, an exception is raised indicating which invariant was violated.
Enabling Contracts
Postconditions and invariants are not run by default, because they can result in many additional subroutine calls.
Via Code
To enable them, use Mic::Contracts, e.g. to activate all contract types for the Example::Contracts::BoundedQueue class, the following can be done:
use Mic::Contracts 'Example::Contracts::BoundedQueue' => { all => 1 };This turns on preconditions, postconditions and invariants. Whereas
use Mic::Contracts 'Example::Contracts::BoundedQueue' => { post => 1 };turns on postconditions (and preconditions). And
use Mic::Contracts 'Example::Contracts::BoundedQueue' => { invariant => 1 };turns on invariants (and preconditions).
Any defined preconditions will be run unless they are deactivated, which can be done with:
use Mic::Contracts 'Example::Contracts::BoundedQueue' => { pre => 0 };Via Configuration file
Alternatively, contracts can be controlled more dynamically by setting the environment variable MIC_CONTRACTS to the name of a .ini file.
For example, given the file my.contracts.ini with the following content
[Example::Contracts::BoundedQueue]
invariant = on
pre = offand by setting MIC_CONTRACTS
export MIC_CONTRACTS=/path/to/my.contracts.iniThen invariant checking will be turned on for Example::Contracts::BoundedQueue.
The format of the file is simple: one section per Class/Interface. Then within each section the keys are contract types
- pre
-
Preconditions
- post
-
Postconditions
- invariant
-
Invariants
- all
-
All contract types
The values are interpreted as booleans, with 0, 'off' and 'false' being considered false (and anything else considered true).
See Also
Mic::Contracts are inspired by Design by Contract in Eiffel