Why cannot top level module be set to "Main" in Hint (Language.Haskell.Interpreter)?
Allow me to demonstrate:
module Main where
import Language.Haskell.Interpreter
import Control.Monad
main = do
res <- runInterpreter (test "test")
case res of
Left e -> putStrLn (show e)
Right t -> putStrLn (show t)
return ()
test :: String -> Interpreter ()
test mname =
do
loadModules [mname ++ ".hs"]
setTopLevelModules ["Main"]
Will result in:
NotAllowed "These modules are not interpreted:\nMain\n"
As the documentation says, top level modules have to be interpreted, i.e. not compiled.
When loading a module, a compiled version will be used if it's available. The GHCi manual has more detailed information on this.
I'm guessing there's a test.o and test.hi in the same folder from an earlier build. I was able to reproduce the error with these files present. Deleting them solves the problem, as the module will then be interpreted.
You can also force a module to be loaded in interpreted mode by prefixing the module name with an asterisk, e.g. loadModules ["*" ++ mname ++ ".hs"].
It would appear that it compiles the code OK, but then when it goes back to load the current interpreted modules, a problem occurs.
It loads Main with findModule, but, apparently, loads the wrong Main: It's loading the application Main, which indeed was not interpreted, sees that, and dies.
(Though I should add I haven't used Hint so I'm kind of guessing ;)
Related
I am saving some commands in a Haskell script in a .hs file while working thru a Haskell textbook. Here's a small example.
fst (1,2)
snd (1,2)
When I run these commands from the prelude in GHCi, they work fine. When I try to compile the .hs file with these two lines, I get the following:
ch4_test.hs:2:1: error:
Parse error: module header, import declaration
or top-level declaration expected.
|
2 | fst (1,2)
| ^^^^^^^^^
Failed, no modules loaded.
I've googled this error and can't find any explanation what I'm doing wrong.
From a newbie to future newbies: The interactive environment ghci would lead you to believe that you can punch some expressions into an .hs file and run the thing (in a similar fashion to languages like swift and ruby). This is not the case.
Haskell needs an entrypoint called main. Quoting:
Here is a simple program to read and then print a character:
main :: IO ()
main = do c <- getChar
putChar c
The use of the name main is important: main is defined to be the entry point of a Haskell program (similar to the main function in C), and must have an IO type, usually IO ()
Source: https://www.haskell.org/tutorial/io.html
You can't just put any expression in a hs file.
As the error message says, you need a declaration here. For example:
main =
print (fst (1,2)) >>
print (snd (1,2))
I am getting this error but the cause appears to be completely different from anything posted here. And the error message is not at all helpful.
Using Cabal version 3.6.2.0 with GHCI 8.10.7 on MacOS High Sierra (10.13)
I'm working from this page: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/haskell/haskell_modules.htm
specifically the "custom modules" section. There you can see the code I copied and pasted.
Besides the tutorial not mentioning I needed to add "other-modules: Custom" to myfirstapp.cabal, and besides the fact that the sample Custom.hs file includes "if x 'rem' 2 == 0" rather than "if x rem 2 == 0", here is the problem:
Indentation matters!
This line (inside the quotes) does NOT work "if x rem 2 == 0".
This line DOES work " if x rem 2 == 0"!
Indenting by one space is the difference between success and failure.
I'm totally new to Haskell. I've programmed extensively in PHP, Javascript, and Applescript, and dabbled in a dozen others, and this is the first time I've seen white space matter. I assume this is commonly known amongst Haskell veterans, but it would certainly be nice if that was included prominently in the documentation.
When I type the following in the interactive shell of Haskell on the repl.it website, it works perfectly.
let squareMe x = x * x
let myFruit = ["banana", "apple", "kiwi", "orange"]
But when I type it into a source file and click 'Run' I get the error:
<interactive>:3:1: error:
• Variable not in scope: main
• Perhaps you meant ‘min’ (imported from Prelude)
I've been trying to understand this error and come up with a solution for a couple of hours now and am no nearer to finding a solution or understanding what the error means.
The Haskell REPL (GHCi) and actual Haskell programs are considerably different.
The reasons for this difference is the goal of the two formats. Firstly, GHCi is a testing area, not a code-running area. However, Haskell source files are meant to run a certain process, which is named main. When you run a source file, the Haskell compiler (usually GHC) looks for the IO action called main, and tries to run it. In this case, there was no main, so it failed.
Secondly, what you typed is not a valid Haskell program, those are declarations that would be fine in GHCi, but not in Haskell source. This would be correct in a source file:
squareMe x = x * x
myFruit = ["banana", "apple", "kiwi", "orange"]
Note the lack of let; Haskell source files don't use it to declare things.
Note that on repl.it, this will still complain that main is missing, but you can then refer to squareMe and myFruit in the REPL without worry. In other words, the error will still appear, but it doesn't matter, because you can use whatever you wrote in the file nonetheless.
If you wanted to suppress the warning, you could write the lines:
main :: IO () -- This says that main is an IO action.
main = return () -- This tells main to do nothing.
There are many things you could have the program do instead of this. Here are a couple of examples:
main = putStrLn "No errors!" Will print No errors! when you run it.
main = print myFruit Will print ["banana", "apple", "kiwi", "orange"] when you run it.
Please note that this answer applies mostly to the site repl.it specifically, though in general this is how Haskell programs are structured.
If you compile a Haskell source there needs to be a main symbol as entry point, just like when compiling e.g. a C program. Also in a compiled file you must skip the lets. E.g.
squareMe x = x * x
main = putStrLn . show $ squareMe 4
If what you’re writing is more like a library or a set of utility routines than a complete program, you can declare it as a module. Then GHC will compile it to an object you can link to other programs, and you can also load it in GHCI. It will not be expected to contain a main routine.
If you save this to a .hs file:
module Example (squareMe) where
squareMe x = x * x -- Exported to other modules.
myFruit = ["banana", "apple", "kiwi", "orange"] -- Not exported.
Compiling this with GHC will give you a .hi file and a .o file, and running it in GHCI will give you this:
GHCi, version 8.0.2: http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ :? for help
Ok, modules loaded: Example (sx-modulexmpl.o).
Prelude Example> squareMe 2
4
You can also compute an expression that references a library from the command line. ghc -e "squareMe 2" Example.hs prints 4.
I am writing a bit of TemplateHaskell for stringing together QuickCheck style specifications. I require every module containing properties to export a symbol called ''axiom_set''. Then, my checkAxioms function finds all the ''axiom_set'' symbols from modules imported where I call checkAxioms.
checkAxioms :: DecsQ
checkAxioms = do
ModuleInfo ms <- reifyModule =<< thisModule
forM_ ms $ \mi#(Module _ m) -> do
runIO . print =<< lookupValueName (modString m ++ ".axiom_set")
The above code should find all the imported "axiom_set" symbols. However, if Module.Axioms defines axiom_set but that I imported as follows
import Module.Axioms as MA
my code can't find MA.axiom_set. Any advice?
I don't think there's a way to do that. This seems to be a limitation of TemplateHaskell.
It kinda makes sense to have only fully qualified names in ModuleInfos list of imported modules, but the fact that we can't use those fully qualified names in lookupValueName is bad. I think we need a variant of lookupValueName or lookupName that takes a Module as argument.
I suggest openning an issue at GHC issue tracker: https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/newticket We have ongoing work to improve TH in the next major release. Part of the work is about improving the package documentation, exported functions etc. This can be one of the improvements.
I'm working on an assignment in Haskell. However, the base code I am working with does not have a main function defined, and from the wording of the assignment I believe I am not expected to have to write any code outside of the solution to the problem. However, when I try to compile my code, I receive the error:
The IO function 'main' is not defined in module 'Main'
I assume this is because the function does not have a main function. However, when I try to write my own main function:
main :: IO ()
main = solve easy // easy is an array
I get the error:
Couldn't match expected type 'IO()' with actual type '[Int]'
The solve function's type is declared as follows:
solve :: [Int] -> [Int]
So it takes an array and returns an array. What am I doing wrong in writing my main function? Even when I try changing the declaration of main to things like:
main :: [Int]
or
main :: IO [Int]
I still can't get it to compile.
Without writing a proper main with a correct type, as described by #G Philip, you can load your file in ghci by writing ghci file.hs in your terminal, or by invoking :l file.hs inside ghci.
Firstly: the function main must have type IO t for some type t. When the program is executed, the computation defined by main is executed, and its result (of type t) is thrown away; see here.
So, in particular, you cannot have the type of main as [Int] and have the compiler not complain.
Depending on whether you want to see the results of solving the easy case or not, you can try one of the following:
If you want to see the results: print them!
main :: IO ()
main = putStrLn $ show (solve easy)
If you are not interested in seeing the results, throw them away:
main :: IO ()
main = let solution = solve easy
in putStrLn ""
Edit: Note, however, that if you do the latter, then (as #yatima2975 mentions in a comment) the "solve easy" part will not be evaluated.
Just to add to the other answers:
you don't need to write a main function and can still compile the file into a lib and the easiest way to do this is just giving a module name (that is not Main):
module MyCode where
solve :: ...
But of course compiling it might not make any sense anymore (as you will not be able to run it - and of course even if you have not specified what to output anyway).
So in this case rather load the file into ghci:
ghci MyFile.hs
and then everytime you changed something in your code you can do :r inside ghci to reload it.
Or even better set up your favorite editor (emacs and vi are quite easy but sublime text and some other works great too) to give you integrated ghci - this explains what you need to do to setup emacs with haskell-mode if you are interested.
Consider
main :: IO ()
main = do
let res = solve easy // easy is an array
return ()
where return () yields a result of type Unit which conveys with the type signature of main. Note solve easy is bound to res which is not used further.
Consider the following use case:
I have a QuickCheck test suite consisting of two test cases prop_testCase1 and prop_testCase2. Using hpc I can observe the code coverage of my test suite.
However, I'd like to get separate results for the coverage of prop_testCase1 and prop_testCase2 (to then further process the results).
One way out could be to run the executable several times explicitly specifying the test case as a command line argument and to process the generated tix file after each run.
Yet, I would prefer to hide away this logic in a library. Also in reality I would like to run significantly more than just two test cases. Thus explicitly re-executing the binary for each test case seems rather inconvenient.
At the same time I'd imagine that hpc keeps the coverage data in some kind of intermediate data structure during the program execution.
Question: Is there a way to recognize that the program has been compiled with hpc symbols and to somehow access the data hpc generates at runtime?
I think I found a way to achieve the desired effect.
The required functions are provided by the Trace.Hpc.Reflect module.
Unfortunately the documentation is somewhat lacking.
Nevertheless, here is a minimal example that seems to work:
import Trace.Hpc.Reflect
main :: IO ()
main = do
print (show $ f 5)
tix <- examineTix
print (show tix)
print (show $ f 6)
print (show $ f 7)
tix <- examineTix
print (show tix)
return ()
f x = x*2
Compile and run this as follows:
$ ghc -fhpc Main
[1 of 1] Compiling Main ( Main.hs, Main.o )
Linking Main ...
$ ./Main
"10"
"Tix [TixModule \"Main\" 3889152622 31 [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1]]"
"12"
"14"
"Tix [TixModule \"Main\" 3889152622 31 [3,3,3,3,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1, in1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,1,1]]"
So using this you can tap into the coverage data provided by hpc while your program is executing.
If the executable is compiled without hpc support the program still works but the Tix object returned by examineTix contains the empty list.