trivial/icfp-2016/usage.scrbl

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1.8 KiB
Racket

#lang scribble/sigplan
@title{Usage}
@; regexp-match
@; format
@; math
@; vectors
@; arity
@section{Database}
@; db
@; TODO Ocaml, Haskell story
Racket's @racket[db] library provides a direct connection to the database,
modulo some important safety checks.
Typed Racket programmers may use the @racket[db] library by giving type signatures
specialized to their needs.
For example, the statement below asserts that @racket[query-row] always returns
a natural number and a string.
In contrast, @racket[query-maybe-row] can optionally fail, but otherwise returns
a natural number and a string.
@racketblock[
(require/typed db
(#:opaque Connection connection?)
(sql-connect (->* () (#:user String #:database String) Connection))
(query-row (-> Connection String Any * (Vector Natural String)))
(query-maybe-row (-> Connection String Any * (Option (Vector Natural String))))
....)
]
To manage additional tables, the programmer can re-import @racket[db] identifiers
with a fresh name and type signature.
@todo{coherent example}
@racketblock[
(require/typed (prefix-in w: db)
(w:query-row (-> Connection String Any * (Vector Natural String))))
(require/typed (prefix-in s: db)
(s:query-row (-> Connection String Any * (Vector Natural Natural))))
]
This approach works, but is tedious and error-prone.
Our contribution is to associate a type signature with database connections.
Calls to generic operations like @racket[query-row] are then specialized to
the exact result type.
@; PERKS
@; - Single point-of-control
@; - lightweight
@; - no changes to underlying library / type system
@; - compile-time validation of query strings
While light years away from LINQ, this technique provides at least basic
safety guarantees for an existing library and demonstrates the generality of
our technique.