In python, I can write a trace function like:
def trace(f):
f.indent = 0
def g(x):
print('| ' * f.indent + '|--', f.__name__, x)
f.indent += 1
value = f(x)
print('| ' * f.indent + '|--', 'return', repr(value))
f.indent -= 1
return value
return g
fib = trace(fib)
print(fib(4))
and it’d print the recursive trace for any general recursive function beautifully:
$ python fib.py |-- fib 4 | |-- fib 3 | | |-- fib 2 | | | |-- fib 1 | | | | |-- return 1 | | | |-- fib 0 | | | | |-- return 1 | | | |-- return 2 | | |-- fib 1 | | | |-- return 1 | | |-- return 3 | |-- fib 2 | | |-- fib 1 | | | |-- return 1 | | |-- fib 0 | | | |-- return 1 | | |-- return 2 | |-- return 5 5
Is it possible to write a simple similar one in Java/Kotlin? Or is it only doable with AOP or the like?
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Answer
EDIT: formatting does not 100% match yours, but that is easily fixable for you 🙂
Here is a code sample to accompany my comment. It is pretty ugly though but shows how its working. You can’t express it with a simple lambda as you cannot recurse lambdas in Java easily:
import java.util.function.BiFunction;
import java.util.function.Function;
class Scratch {
private static int fib(int n, Function<Integer, Integer> _fib) {
if (n <= 1)
return n;
return _fib.apply(n - 1) + _fib.apply(n - 2);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Tracer<Integer, Integer> tracer = new Tracer<>(Scratch::fib);
tracer.apply(5);
}
private static class Tracer<A, B> implements Function<A, B> {
private final BiFunction<A, Function<A, B>, B> original;
private int indent = 0;
private Tracer(BiFunction<A, Function<A, B>, B> original) {
this.original = original;
}
@Override
public B apply(A a) {
System.out.println("| ".repeat(indent) + "|-- fib " + a);
indent += 1;
B result = original.apply(a, this);
System.out.println("| ".repeat(indent) + "|-- return " + result);
indent -= 1;
return result;
}
}
}
Output:
|-- fib 5 | |-- fib 4 | | |-- fib 3 | | | |-- fib 2 | | | | |-- fib 1 | | | | | |-- return 1 | | | | |-- fib 0 | | | | | |-- return 0 | | | | |-- return 1 | | | |-- fib 1 | | | | |-- return 1 | | | |-- return 2 | | |-- fib 2 | | | |-- fib 1 | | | | |-- return 1 | | | |-- fib 0 | | | | |-- return 0 | | | |-- return 1 | | |-- return 3 | |-- fib 3 | | |-- fib 2 | | | |-- fib 1 | | | | |-- return 1 | | | |-- fib 0 | | | | |-- return 0 | | | |-- return 1 | | |-- fib 1 | | | |-- return 1 | | |-- return 2 | |-- return 5