Clojure

defn-created fns inherit old metadata from the Var they are assigned to

Details

  • Type: Defect Defect
  • Status: Open Open
  • Resolution: Unresolved
  • Affects Version/s: None
  • Fix Version/s: Approved Backlog
  • Component/s: None
  • Labels:
    None

Description

  • What (small set of) steps will reproduce the problem?

user> (def #^{:foo "bar"} x 5)
#'user/x
user> (meta #'x)
{:ns #<Namespace user>, :name x, :file "NO_SOURCE_FILE", :line 1, :foo "bar"}
user> (defn x [] 5)
#'user/x
user> (meta #'x)
{:ns #<Namespace user>, :name x, :file "NO_SOURCE_FILE", :line 1, :arglists ([])}
user> (meta x)
{:ns #<Namespace user>, :name x, :file "NO_SOURCE_FILE", :line 1, :foo "bar"}

  • What is the expected output? What do you see instead?

I expect (meta #'x) to evaluate to the value of the final (meta x) in the above.

  • What version are you using?

Current master (commit 61202d2ff6925002400a9843e8fbd080f3bef3a5).

  • Was this discussed on the group? If so, please provide a link to the discussion.

http://groups.google.com/group/clojure/browse_thread/thread/4c7151aa9c4d919c/d1b033ef5a13dd89?lnk=gst&q=off-by-one#d1b033ef5a13dd89

Prompted by discussion at

http://groups.google.com/group/clojure/browse_thread/thread/6553d48c981019eb/3c55b0bd43a5d8e9?lnk=gst&q=off-by-one#3c55b0bd43a5d8e9

  • Initial attempt at a diagnosis:

I think this is due to DefExpr's eval method binding the Var to init.eval() first and attaching the supplied metadata to the Var later – see Compiler.java lines 341-352. (Note the Var is always already in place when init.eval() is called, regardless of whether it existed prior to the evaluation of the def / defn.) Thus the init expression supplied by defn sees the old (and wrong) metadata on the Var.

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Dates

  • Created:
    Updated: