Feature #17326
Updated by jez (Jake Zimmerman) over 3 years ago
# Abstract We should add a method `Kernel#must!` (name TBD) which raises if `self` is `nil` and returns `self` otherwise. # Background Ruby 3 introduces type annotations for the standard library. Type checkers consume these annotations, and report errors for type mismatches. One of the most common and most valuable type errors is whether `nil` is allowed as an argument or return value. Sorbet's type system tracks this, and RBS files have syntax for annotating whether `nil` is allowed or not. Since Sorbet checks proper usage of `nil`, it requires code that looks like this: ```ruby if thing.nil? raise "The thing was nil" end thing.do_something ``` This is good because it forces the programmer to acknowledge that the thing might be `nil`, and declare that they'd rather raise an exception in that case than handle the `nil` (of course, there are many other times where `nil` is both possible and valid, which is why Sorbet forces at least considering in all cases). It is annoying and repetitive to have to write these `if .nil?` checks everywhere to ignore the type error, so Sorbet provides it as a library function, called `T.must`: ```ruby T.must(thing).do_something ``` Sorbet knows that the call to `T.must` raises if `thing` is `nil`. To make this very concrete, here's a Sorbet playground where you can see this in action: [→ View on sorbet.run](https://sorbet.run/#%23%20typed%3A%20true%0Aextend%20T%3A%3ASig%0A%0Aclass%20Thing%0A%20%20def%20do_something%3B%20end%0Aend%0A%0Asig%20%7Bparams(thing%3A%20T.nilable(Thing)).void%7D%0Adef%20example1(thing)%0A%20%20%23%20error%2C%20might%20be%20nil%3A%0A%20%20thing.do_something%0Aend%0A%0Asig%20%7Bparams(thing%3A%20T.nilable(Thing)).void%7D%0Adef%20example2(thing)%0A%20%20if%20thing.nil%3F%0A%20%20%20%20raise%20%22The%20thing%20was%20nil%22%0A%20%20end%0A%0A%20%20%23%20no%20error%2C%20because%20it's%20after%20the%20%60if%20.nil%3F%60%20check%3A%0A%20%20thing.do_something%0Aend%0A%0Asig%20%7Bparams(thing%3A%20T.nilable(Thing)).void%7D%0Adef%20example3(thing)%0A%20%20%23%20no%20error%2C%20because%20it's%20after%20the%20%60if%20.nil%3F%60%20check%3A%0A%20%20T.must(thing).do_something%0Aend) You can read more about `T.must` in the [Sorbet documentation](https://sorbet.org/docs/type-assertions#tmust). # Problem While `T.must` works, it is not ideal for a couple reasons: 1. It is not a method, so you can't `map` it over a list using `Symbol#to_proc`. Instead, you have to expand the block: ```ruby array_of_integers = array_of_nilable_integers.map {|x| T.must(x) } ``` 2. It leads to a weird outward spiral of flow control, which disrupts method chains: ```ruby # ┌─────────────────┐ # │ ┌────┐ │ # ▼ ▼ │ │ T.must(T.must(task).mailing_params).fetch('template_context') # │ │ ▲ ▲ # │ └──────────┘ │ # └─────────────────────────────────┘ ``` compare that control flow with this: ```ruby # ┌────┐┌────┐┌─────────────┐┌────┐ # │ ▼│ ▼│ ▼│ ▼ task.must!.mailing_params.must!.fetch('template_context') ``` 2. It is not a method, so you can't `map` it over a list using `Symbol#to_proc`. Instead, you have to expand the block: ```ruby array_of_integers = array_of_nilable_integers.map {|x| T.must(x) } ``` Compare that with this: ```ruby array_of_integers = array_of_nilable_integers.map(&:must!) ``` 3. It is in a Sorbet-specific gem. We do not intend for Sorbet to be the only type checker. It would be nice to have such a method in the Ruby standard library so that it can be shared by all type checkers. 4. This method can make Ruby codebases that **don't** use type checkers more robust! `Kernel#must!` could be an easy way to assert invariants early. Failing early makes it more likely that a test will fail, rather than getting `TypeError`'s and `NoMethodError`'s in production. This makes all Ruby code better, not just the Ruby code using types. # Proposal We should extend the Ruby standard library with something like this:: ```ruby module Kernel def must!; self; end end class NilClass def must! raise TypeError.new("nil.must!") end end ``` These methods would get type annotations that look like this: (using Sorbet's RBI syntax, because I don't know RBS well yet) ```ruby module Kernel sig {returns(T.self_type)} def must!; end end class NilClass sig {returns(T.noreturn)} def must!; end end ``` What these annotations say: - In `Kernel#must!`, the return value is `T.self_type`, or "whatever the type of the receiver was." That means that `0.must!` will have type `Integer`, `"".must!` will have type `String`, etc. - In `NilClass#must!`, there is an override of `Kernel#must!` with return type `T.noreturn`. This is a fancy type that says "this code either infinitely loops or raises an exception." This is the name for Sorbet's [bottom type](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottom_type), if you are familiar with that terminology. Here is a Sorbet example where you can see how these annotations behave: [→ View on sorbet.run](https://sorbet.run/#%23%20typed%3A%20true%0A%0Amodule%20Kernel%0A%20%20T%3A%3ASig%3A%3AWithoutRuntime.sig%20%7Breturns(T.self_type)%7D%0A%20%20def%20must!%3B%20self%3B%20end%0Aend%0A%0Aclass%20NilClass%0A%20%20T%3A%3ASig%3A%3AWithoutRuntime.sig%20%7Breturns(T.noreturn)%7D%0A%20%20def%20must!%0A%20%20%20%20raise%20TypeError.new(%22nil.must!%22)%0A%20%20end%0Aend%0A%0Axs%20%3D%20T%3A%3AArray%5BInteger%5D.new(%5B0%5D)%0AT.reveal_type(xs.first)%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%23%20T.nilable(Integer)%0AT.reveal_type(xs.first.must!)%20%23%20Integer%0A%0Ays%20%3D%20T%3A%3AArray%5BT.nilable(Integer)%5D.new(%5B0%2C%20nil%2C%201%2C%20nil%2C%202%5D)%0AT.reveal_type(ys)%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%23%20T%3A%3AArray%5BT.nilable(Integer)%5D%0AT.reveal_type(ys.map(%26%3Amust!))%20%23%20T%3A%3AArray%5BInteger%5D) # Alternatives considered There was some discussion of this feature at the Feb 2020 Ruby Types discussion: Summarizing: - Sorbet team frequently recommends people to use `xs.fetch(0)` instead of `T.must(xs[0])` on `Array`'s and `Hash`'s because it chains and reads better. `.fetch` not available on other classes. - It's intentional that `T.must` requires as many characters as it does. Making it slightly annoying to type encourages developers to refactor their code so that `nil` never occurs. - There was a proposal to introduce new syntax like `thing.!!`. This is currently a syntax error. **Rebuttal**: There is burden to introducing new syntax. Tools like Rubocop, Sorbet, and syntax highlighting plugins have to be updated. Also: it is hard to search for on Google (as a new Ruby developer). Also: it is very short—having something slightly shorter makes people think about whether they want to type it out instead of changing the code so that `nil` can't occur. Another alternative would be to dismiss this as "not useful / common enough". I don't think that's true. Here are some statistics from Stripe's Ruby monolith (~10 million lines of code): | methood | percentage of files mentioning method | number of occurrences of method | | --- | --- | --- | | `.nil?` | 16.69% | 31340 | | `T.must` | 23.89% | 74742 | From this, we see that - `T.must` is in 1.43x more files than `.nil?` - `T.must` occurs 2.38x more often than `.nil?` # Naming I prefer `must!` because it is what the method in Sorbet is already called. I am open to naming suggestions. Please provide reasoning. # Discussion In the above example, I used `T.must` twice. An alternative way to have written that would have been using save navigation: ```ruby T.must(task&.mailing_params).fetch('template_context') ``` This works as well. The proposed `.must!` method works just as well when chaining methods with safe navigation: ```ruby task&.mailing_params.must!.fetch('template_context') ``` However, there is still merit in using `T.must` (or `.must!`) twice—it calls out that the programmer intended neither location to be `nil`. In fact, if this method had been chained across multiple lines, the backtrace would include line numbers saying specifically **which** `.must!` failed: ```ruby task.must! .mailing_params.must! .fetch('template_context') ```