Deferral - introduce golang style "defer" in Ruby

# gem install deferral

require "deferral/toplevel"
using Deferral::TopLevel
# it makes "defer" without module name available everywhere in this file

def my_method_name
  # ...
  file = File.open("my_file", "r")
  defer { file.close }

  file.write "data..."
  # ...
end # `file.close` is called at the end of method (even when exception thrown)

# or end of blocks
def my_method_name(list)
  # ...
  list.each do |item|
    file = File.open(item, "r")
    defer { file.close }

    file.write "data..."
    # ...
  end # `file.close` is called at the end of block
end

# "deferral" imports `Deferral.defer`, not to inject top-level methods widely.
require "deferral"

# or enable everywhere! (DANGER!)
require "deferral/kernel_ext"

This gem provides a feature to release resources safely, using golang style defer method.

Deferral.defer method does:

• accept a block argument to execute at the end of caller scope
• execute specified blocks in reverse order when getting out from specified scope

Resource release blocks are called even when any exception occurs.

See also with_resources gem for try-with-resources style resource allocator.

This library is a kind of PoC to introduce safe resource allocation in Ruby world. Take care about using this library in your production environment.

This library uses/enables TracePoint, and it may collapse optimizations of your Ruby runtime.

• Deferral.defer(&block)

This method registers a block to be called at the end of caller scope (end of method or block). Registered blocks will be called in reverse order (LIFO: last-in, first-out) when this method is called twice or more in a scope.

Top-level defer is available via 2 different ways. One is using Refinements, another is modifying Kernel in open-class way.

require "deferral/toplevel"
using Deferral::TopLevel

def my_method
  f = AnyResource.new
  defer { f.close }
  # ...
end

Refinements is a feature of Ruby to apply Module modification in just a file (by using statement). using Deferral::TopLevel introduces top level defer in safer way than modifying Kernel.

require "deferral/kernel_ext"

# now, "defer" is available everywhere...

Requiring deferral/kernel_ext modifies Kernel module globally to add deferral. It's not recommended in most cases.

• Satoshi Tagomori tagomoris@gmail.com

MIT (See License.txt)