[ERROR] error: File name too long

A common way to install Ubuntu is with an underlying ext4 file system and eCryptfs encrypted home directories. ext4, like many other file systems, has a maximum filename limit of 255 bytes. eCryptfs creates filenames much longer than the original. Compiled Scala classes tend to have long file names since anonymous classes end up in their own files. Therefore, when compiling Scala projects within eCryptfs on ext4, it is easy to get file name too long errors.

Ruby, Python, and many other dynamic languages have a so-called splat operator that lets you easily invoke a function by providing a list of argument values:

def f(x,y)
  x*y
end

> fArgs = [6,7.0]
=> [6, 7.0]

> f(*fArgs)
=> 42.0

Scala does not have a splat operator per se, but you can achieve the same effect without too much work. Sadly the syntax is different for fixed-arity and variadic functions.

Scala splat for variadic functions

For variadic functions there effectively is a splat operator. If you invoke a variadic function and append :_* to the argument the compiler will perform the splat:

> def g(xs:Int*) = (0 /: xs) (_ + _)
g: (xs: Int*)Int

> val gArgs = List(1,2,3,4)
gArgs: List[Int] = List(1, 2, 3, 4)

> g(gArgs:_*)
res23: Int = 10

Scala splat for fixed-arity functions

> def f(x:Int, y:Double) = x * y
f: (x: Int, y: Double)Double

> val fArgs = (6, 7.0)
fArgs: (Int, Double) = (6,7.0)

> f _ tupled fArgs
res8: Double = 42.0

Magic! The first part, f _, is the syntax for a partially applied function in which none of the arguments have been specified. This works as a mechanism to get a hold of the function object. tupled returns a new function which of arity-1 that takes a single arity-n tuple. It is defined in the Scala Function object,

However, given a List of arguments to pass to f, I’m not sure how to easily convert the List to a Tuple.

p.s. There’s a stackoverflow post about this called “scala tuple unpacking.”

Quick refresher: self-types are commonly used when writing traits that want to proscribe that they get mixed in to a particular class. For example, the cake-pattern leverages them. In the example below, FooTrait specifies a self-type of FooTraitConfiguration to insure that it is mixed in to a class that provides the expected times val.

import actors.Actor
import actors.Actor._

trait FooTraitConfiguration { val times : Int }

trait FooTrait { self:FooTraitConfiguration =>
  case object Ping
  case object Pong

  val a = actor {
    loop {
      react {
        case Ping =>
          self ! Pong
        case Pong =>
          for(_ <- (1 to times)) { print(".") }
          System.out.println("pong.")
  } } }

  def ping = a ! Ping
  def pong = a ! Pong
}

class Foo extends FooTrait with FooTraitConfiguration { @Override val times = 5 }

But, alas, this fails to compile:

error: value ! is not a member of FooTrait with FooTraitConfiguration
self ! Pong

It seems that the self-trait has broken the Actor API! And indeed, it has. Because self-traits are not usually specified with self! It should have been:
this:FooTraitConfiguration =>

The self-type means that within FooTrait the type of this is considered to be FooTrait with FooTraitConfiguration. Using a word other than this additionally sets up an alias to that type for e.g. use within nested classes. And there’s the rub: Actors depend on a method named self which is shadowed when the alias to the type is named self.

Note to self: Don’t use self when specifying self types!