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  1. Outdated egg!
  2. Exceptions made easy
    1. The interface
      1. current-exception-handler
      2. exceptions
      3. exception?
      4. exn?
      5. exception-of?
      6. exn-of?
      7. make-exception
      8. make-exn
      9. location
      10. message
      11. arguments
      12. raise
      13. with-exn-handler
      14. condition-case
      15. handle-exceptions
      16. guard
      17. assert*
      18. argument-exception
      19. argument-exn
      20. result-exception
      21. result-exn
      22. named-lambda
      23. <<
      24. >>
      25. true?
      26. false?
    2. Examples
  3. Last update
  4. Author
  5. License
  6. Version History

Exceptions made easy

Chicken's condition system is versatile and flexible, but apart from the two high level exception handlers, handle-exceptions and condition-case, not very user friendly. In particular the low-level exception handler, with-exception-handler, must be used with extreme care to avoid non-terminating loops. Moreover creating and inspecting condition-objects is cumbersome.

So this library introduces some procedures and macros to facilitate matters. Exceptions are introduced as special conditions, to be more precise, [composite] conditions of kind exn, which all have properties message, location and arguments, which can easyly be accessed by procedures of that very name. They are constructed by separating the general property, message, and the general kinds, from the special properties, location and arguments, the latter being considered as parameters of an exception.

In other words, one can define a global exception-variable of a special kind, e.g.

(define assert-exn (make-exception "assertion violated" 'assert))

which can then be used within the definition of a procedure, foo say, as follows

(raise (assert-exn 'foo 'xpr))

Here, raise is a version of abort with improved error messages.

The exception raised can now be handled in the usual way, preferably

(condition-case (foo arg) ((exn assert) ...))

or

(handle-exceptions exn (if ((exception-of? 'assert) exn) ...) (foo arg))

but other handlers are provided as well, in particular, guard of R6RS and R7RS, and with-exn-handler, which has the same syntax as Chicken's with-exception-handler, but avoids its subtleties. For example, the follwing code does what you expect, it returns 0.

(with-exn-handler (lambda (exn) 0) (lambda () (car '())))

without looping forewer, what with-exception-handler would have done.

Another useful macro is assert* which -- contrary to assert -- allows many expressions to be tested and demands a location argument, which is used to produce a meaningful error-message.

The interface

current-exception-handler

[parameter] (current-exception-handler [new-handler])

chicken's handler parameter reexported.

exceptions

[procedure] (exceptions [sym])

documentation procedure.

exception?

[procedure] (exception? xpr)

type predicate. Note, that each exception is a condition of kind exn.

exn?

[procedure] (exn? xpr)

alias to exception?

exception-of?

[procedure] (exception-of? kind-key)

returns a unary predicate, which checks, if its argument expression is an exception of kind kind-key, a symbol.

exn-of?

[procedure] (exn-of? kind-key)

alias to exception-of?

make-exception

[procedure] (make-exception msg . kind-keys)

Returns a procedure of at least one argument, a symbol describing the location of its call, and an optional other argument, a list of arguments, which creates an exception of kinds kind-keys, message msg, as well as the given location and arguments.

make-exn

[procedure] (make-exn msg . kind-keys)

alias to make-exception

location

[procedure] (location exn)

returns the location property of its exception argument.

message

[procedure] (message exn)

returns the message property of its exception argument.

arguments

[procedure] (arguments exn)

returns the arguments property of its exception argument.

raise

[procedure] (raise exn)

raises its argument, i.e. calls (current-exception-handler) with exn. In essence chicken's abort.

with-exn-handler

[procedure] (with-exn-handler handler thunk)

A save version of chicken's low-level with-exception-handler. Sets the current-exception-handler to handler for the dynamic extent of its call and executes thunk in this context.

condition-case

[syntax] (condition-case xpr ([var] (kind ...) body) . other-clauses)))

Chicken's highest level exception-handler reexported.

handle-exceptions

[syntax] (handle-exceptions exn handle-xpr xpr . xprs)

Chicken's high level exception handler reexported.

guard

[syntax] (guard (exn cond-clause . cond-clauses) xpr . xprs)

The high level exception handler of R6RS and R7RS. Sets the current-exception-handler to an exception-handler created from exn und the supplied cond-clauses for the dynamic extent of its call and executes the body xpr . xprs in this context.

assert*

[syntax] (assert* loc xpr . xprs)

checks the expressions xpr . xprs in sequence and raises an exception for the first failing expression with location property loc and arguments property the failing expression quoted.

argument-exception

[procedure] (argument-exception loc arg ...)

raised when a precondition is violated. Can be catched with (exn argument)

argument-exn

[procedure] (argument-exn loc arg ...)

alias to argument-exception

result-exception

[procedure] (result-exception loc arg ...)

raised when a postcondition is violated. Can be catched with (exn result)

result-exn

[procedure] (result-exn loc arg ...)

alias to result-exception

named-lambda

[syntax] (named-lambda name args xpr . xprs)

can replace anonymous procedures and can be used recursively.

<<

[procedure] (<< x loc .. x? ...)

precondition test: passes x unchanged only if all predicates x? return #t on it, raises an argument-exception at location loc, if given, or '<< otherwise

>>

[procedure] (>> x loc .. x? ...)

postcondition test: passes x unchanged only if all predicates x? return #t on it raises a result-exception at location loc, if given, or '>> otherwise

true?

[procedure] (true? xpr)

returns always #t

false?

[procedure] (false? xpr)

returns always #f

Examples


(use simple-exceptions)

((named-lambda ! (n)
   (if (zero? n)
     1
     (* n (! (- n 1)))))
 5) ; -> 120
(<< 5 integer? odd? (named-lambda 5<= (x) (<= 5 x))) ; -> 5
(condition-case
       (>> 5 integer? even?)
       ((exn results) #f)) ; -> #f 
(<< ((lambda () #f)) boolean?) ; -> #f

(define foo-exn (make-exception "foo-msg"))
(define bar-exn (make-exception "bar-msg" 'bar))
(exception? (foo-exn 'nowhere))

(bar-exn 'nowhere)
(exception? (bar-exn 'nowhere)) ; -> #t

((exception-of? 'bar) (bar-exn 'nowhere)) ; -> #t
((exception-of? 'bar) (foo-exn 'nowhere)) ; -> #f

(arguments ((make-exception "msg" 'baz) 'nowhere "bar"))
  ; ,> (list "bar")

((exception-of? 'key)
 ((make-exception "msg" 'key) 'nowhere))
  ; -> #t

(define list-empty-exn
  (make-exception "argument list empty" 'list-empty))

(define (try-car lst)
  (if (null? lst)
    (raise (list-empty-exn 'try-car lst))
    (car lst)))

;; exception handler procedure
(with-exn-handler
  (lambda (exn)
    (if ((exception-of? 'list-empty) exn)
      #f
      #t))
  (lambda () (try-car '())))
  ; -> #f

(with-exn-handler (lambda (e) 0) (lambda () (/ 5 0))) ; -> 0

(guard
  (exn (((exception-of? 'foo) exn)
        (location exn))
       ((exception? exn)
        (message exn))
       (else
         (arguments exn)))
  (raise ((make-exception "msg" 'foo)
           'location-unknown)))
  ; -> 'location-unknown)

Last update

Feb 17, 2017

Author

Juergen Lorenz

License

Copyright (c) 2014-2017, Juergen Lorenz
All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
met:

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
Neither the name of the author nor the names of its contributors may be
used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without
specific prior written permission. 
  
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS
IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Version History

0.6
bug in <<< and >>> fixed
0.5
<<< and >>> added, pre- and post-exceptions renamed argument- and result-exn, some aliases added
0.4
named-lambda added
0.3.1
<< and >> now procedures
0.3
<<, >>, pre-exception and post-exception from bindings
0.2
with-handler renamed with-exn-handler
0.1
initial import