Everything Old is New Again - The Ruby DSL hype

Update: I've received a few mails asking how to go about creating dsl s "the right way" in Ruby. If you are in Bangalore, I suggest you attend the Ruby DSL talk at the Agile India 2006 by my friends Badri and Sudarshan (both Thoughtworkers). Such things are best learned by demonstration than reading about it and the Badri and Sudarshan are probably the best people in Bangalore to learn from.

If you are not in Bangalore find someone who knows and ask him to teach you. :-)

[Rant] These things have been true from the dawn of programming languages

1. A language with a built in eval function allows you to transform code into a parse tree at runtime.
2. To the degree that the language has a uniform/flexible syntax, this transition between code and data is painless
3. All language transforms consist of two steps . First you convert a string into a data structure called a "syntax tree" . This is called parsing. Then various transformations can be done on this data structure to produce the effect you want.

   Thus the string "2 + 3" can be converted into a datastructure like "{ operator: "+", operand1:"2", operand2:"3"}".

   Then you can define various transforms that work on (or "visit" in oo terms) the components of the data structure and do whatever you want.

   e.g : (pseudocode) def print(anAst) puts anAst.operand1,anAst.operator,anAst.operand2 end

   def printReversePolish(anAst) puts anAst.operand1,anAst.operand2,anAst.operator end

   def evaluate(anAst) return anAst.operand1 + anAst.operand2 end

   anAst = parse("2 + 3")

   print(anAst) => 2 + 3

   printReversePolish(anAst) => 2 3 +

   evaluate(anAST) => 5

   and that is all there is (conceptually) to any langauge transform.

4. Ruby "DSL" s allow people who haven't studied the fundamentals of computer science to think they are discovering something new and amazing. Yes, Ruby allows a somewhat seamless mixing of "pure" ruby and "dsl" code, but this is just as true for any langauge with a built in eval and clean syntax. (lisp, forth, even smalltalk). The built in "eval" takes care of the parsing (as long as the syntax does not vary too widely from ruby syntax)

To understand ruby "dsl" s, ignore all the hype (and the forthcoming stream of books explaining how ruby's 'dsl ability' is the next silver bullet that will save enterprise programmers , give their arid lives meaning, and solve world hunger), understand how interpreters work (read "The Essentials Of programming Languages") and meditate on these concepts in ruby - class eval, object_eval, method_missing. if you understand the basics of how languages work, ruby's "dsl" is some (very) old wine in some sparkling new bottles.

The next time someone tries to tell you how he created this uber cool "dsl" in ruby AND that this takes some fundamentally new technique, laugh in his face.

Ok , biting your tongue and walking away quietly is almost as good.

DSLs like any other programming technique, when used appropriately gives some beneficial effects. But it is no panacea and a casual perusal of the net will reveal a bunch of atrocious dsls . Beware the hype and snake oil. [end Rant]

Learning from a Master{Class}

I attended a series of lectures on technical topics today and here are my "take away points" in no particular order.

1. "Service Oriented Architecture" is an empty buzzword label designed to squeeze money out of unsuspecting clients
2. Good ideas (e.g: "role playing" a presentation) needs to be executed flawlessly to be effective and cannot be substitute for a belief in what one is speaking about.
3. Having one set of people selecting topics and another set of people being "volunteered" to speak is a terrible way of attempting to deliver a great speech/session.
4. Having original insights arranged in a logical structure is key to a good speech. Presentation skills provide a final finish.
5. Insight arises from taking the time to rigorously think about what is important, and by asking "why" for things everyone takes for granted.
6. Here is a way to test your "hacker quotient" (assuming you are a programmer). How much of your code is written by you wanting to code it vs having to code it?
7. If a series of sessions is to be arranged on a single theme, care should be taken to have them rise to a peak, in terms of quality of content and speakers. An abrubt decline in (relative) quality drives the audience away (fast).
8. If you don't have a good, genuine question to ask the speaker after a speech, for God's sake, shut up and sit down. Nobody thinks you are smart if you ask vague, inchoate and stupid questions
.

The logistics and organization was flawless. Congratulations to all concerned. I hope the forthcoming Agile India Conference does as well.

The Rest Of The Year - Plans

I just rolled off a Telecom Fraud Detection project that saw the successful deployment of one of my core foci - Artificial Intelligence. My next project in 2006 will be in my next major focus area - compilers.

I can't talk too much about this in public yet but I can say that till about August middle/September beginning (tentative deadline) I will be building a production quality compiler for some custom hardware. Large parts of this project (if not all of it) will be open sourced at the end of the project, once the code base is stable enough. Parallelly I hope to help one of my friends bring out a product, and do a serious upgrade of my mathematics skills.

Life is good.

[Context Switch]

If any readers of this blog want to meet me, the Agile India Conference, (where Rajesh and I are doing a linked pair of talks on Robotics) is a good chance to do so.

I shall be talking about language design issues in robotics and Rajesh, on the problems of implementing custom firmware . There are many other interesting sessions on the agenda ( I particularly look forward to KD's speech on the impact of Culture on Agile Practices - knowing KD, this promises to be a real blast), so if you are in Bangalore (or can get to Bangalore, don't miss the fun. (Registration will open later tonight).

Update : Registration for Agile India 2006 is now open.