Adding a try/catch syntax to Perl

[leonerd]

I intend to add try/catch syntax. This has been one of the most frequently-requested of core syntax features - from both community sources like Freenode #perl and other core developers - so I do not anticipate this will be a contentious or debated idea.

As many of the existing CPAN solutions all follow a very similar theme - including my own Syntax::Keyword::Try - I expect I shall follow that pattern, and likewise do not anticipate that this will be considered controversial. Syntax::Keyword::Try has been the preferred module by Freenode #perl for a while now, and folks seem happy with it.

I further intend it to be introduced as

use feature 'try';

Towards this goal, I have created a module Feature::Compat::Try to simplify migration. Existing authors can

use Feature::Compat::Try;

in their current code, today, and import a configured version of Syntax::Keyword::Try which works on all Perl versions back to 5.16, and conforms exactly to the specification of the thing I want to add to core. (S:K:T additionally contains other features, experimental ideas, and past mistakes, that I do not intend to bring in at this time, hence the configuration).

A brief summary, from its synopsis, is:

use Feature::Compat::Try;

sub foo
{
   try {
      attempt_a_thing();
      return "success";
   }
   catch ($e) {
      warn "It failed - $e";
      return "failure";
   }
}

If anyone wishes to review in more detail the syntax and semantics, please read the documentation and unit-tests of this module. That is what I intend to implement exactly. You do not have to wait until I have a PR to actually implement it to do this - the earlier you do this, the better :)

[leonerd]

Cross-posted to perl5-porters@ at
https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2021/01/msg258856.html

[leonerd]

Work progresses at pace on this branch:

https://github.com/Perl/perl5/tree/leonerd/feature-try

In fact at time of writing, it now passes all the unit tests of Feature::Compat::Try except for the one about blessed object exceptions that overload boolification to constant false.

Once I have that working, I shall have a go at the remaining core tasks which didn't affect a CPAN module - such as B::Deparse support. And then it should be ready for review.

Hopefully either by end of weekend, or if not, middle of next week.

[leonerd]

There are two points that the current design (docs and tests) leaves entirely unaddressed. Those are

• How does try/catch interact with $@?
• How does try/catch interact with $SIG{__DIE__}?

So far it happens to be the same as eval, but only due to a lazy minimalist implementation that does not take steps differently. I suspect a more complete design may have something to say about these facts.

In particular I am tempted by the ideas that

• $@ is not set within the catch block, so you must use the lexical variable (thus avoiding volatility)
• $SIG{__DIE__} is not invoked by exceptions thrown within try but caught by catch.

Comments welcome

[mplscorwin]

Those ideas which tempt you, appeal (seem natural) to me.

[oschwald]

Not invoking $SIG{__DIE__} may prevent the new syntax from getting used for some use cases. For instance, we use $SIG{__DIE__} to inflate string exceptions to objects, adding stack traces, etc. If this was not done for exceptions caught by a catch, stack frames from within the try block would be lost if the exception was rethrown from the catch.

Also, how would it interact with code called from the try block that sets a localized $SIG{__DIE__}?

[leonerd]

I will admit the $SIG{__DIE__} one hasn't had much thought. There wasn't any ability for SKT to interact with it, so I haven't done anything there so far. Plus I don't tend to use it myself so I haven't really considered it thus far.

[hvds]

There are two points that the current design (docs and tests) leaves entirely unaddressed. Those are

* How does try/catch interact with `$@`?

* How does try/catch interact with `$SIG{__DIE__}`?

So far it happens to be the same as eval, but only due to a lazy minimalist implementation that does not take steps differently. I suspect a more complete design may have something to say about these facts.

In particular I am tempted by the ideas that

* `$@` is not set within the `catch` block, so you must use the lexical variable (thus avoiding volatility)

Will the lexical be set the same (dualvar and all) as $@ would have been? If so, that seems a sane choice.

* `$SIG{__DIE__}` is not invoked by exceptions thrown within `try` but caught by `catch`.

This troubles me: fine right up until you need it, but at that point it is difficult or impossible to work around. I think I'd rather see it invoked, but with $^S set to some new (true) value distinguishable from the current "in eval" state. An orthogonal improvement later might be to be able to flag a $SIG{__DIE__} hook as being uninterested in certain cases of $^S, allowing performance improvements.

[Grinnz]

Will the lexical be set the same (dualvar and all) as $@ would have been? If so, that seems a sane choice.

You might be thinking of $!. $@ may be any value that had been passed to die.

[hvds]

Will the lexical be set the same (dualvar and all) as $@ would have been? If so, that seems a sane choice.

You might be thinking of $!. $@ may be any value that had been passed to die.

Oops, yes I was.

[haarg]

For $@, I would argue that try should not touch it at all, or act as if it doesn't. This means that inside the try and catch blocks, it has the same value it had outside them. And any modifications to $@ should be maintained after them. This would match the ideal future where $@ isn't involved at all. The only odd part of this is that a bare die uses $@.

I think $SIG{__DIE__} should be invoked just like with eval. Until core exceptions exist, $SIG{__DIE__} becomes a necessary part of debugging to be able to get a stack trace. You'd need some alternative to this before moving away from __DIE__. Possibly something like running the catch from the context of the die, so that you could inspect caller at that point.

[leonerd]

Righty. In that case I'm happy to accept the wisdom of the crowds on the subject of $SIG{__DIE__} - as I said I hadn't given that one much thought before, but clearly others have, so I will go with your recommendations and add a test to ensure it behaves the same with try as it does with eval.

On the subject of $@, I can easily have it be cleared to undef during the catch block, but it would be difficult in the current implementation to follow haarg's suggestion of

This means that inside the try and catch blocks, it has the same value it had outside them.

The use of $@ is currently deeply entangled with perl innards, and more related to the die operator than the surrounding eval. It would be hard to extract that out and have it operate purely on the lexical $e created by the catch block. I shall have it clear the variable to undef to ensure that people don't accidentally rely on it during the catch, but preserving it unmodified will be somewhat harder.