ResourceManagers.jl

Resource management in Julia, inspired by Python's with statement for resource acquisition and release.

• Compl Yue (@complyue), the designer.
• ChatGPT by OpenAI, contributed to the coding and documentation.

• Authors
• Table of Contents
• Background
  • Unique Features Compared to Julia's do Syntax
• Installation
• Usage
  • More Examples
  • Implementing Your Own ResourceManager
• Tests
• License

The @with macro in this package is influenced by Python's with statement, which simplifies the management of resources such as file handlers, network connections, and other custom resources. While Julia has native resource management through the do syntax, the @with macro offers unique features:

1. Multiple Resources: One of the key features is the ability to manage multiple resources in a single block, which can be cumbersome with the native do syntax.

   # Using @with for multiple resources
   @with begin
       OpenFile("file1.txt", "w") : f1
       OpenFile("file2.txt", "w") : f2
   end begin
       write(f1, "Writing to file 1")
       write(f2, "Writing to file 2")
   end

2. Optional Naming: The @with macro provides flexibility with optional naming of resources, enabling you to either use or omit names for the resources you are managing.

   # Without naming
   @with OpenFile("file.txt") begin
       # Do something
   end

By introducing these features, the @with macro aims to make code more readable, maintainable, and less error-prone.

To install ResourceManagers.jl, run the following command in your Julia REPL:

] add ResourceManagers

Here is a quick example using OpenFile from this package:

using ResourceManagers

@with OpenFile("file.txt", "w") : f begin
    write(f, "Hello, world!")
end

This ensures that file.txt is closed automatically after the block of code is executed.

For managing multiple resources:

@with begin
    OpenFile("file1.txt", "w") : f1
    OpenFile("file2.txt", "w") : f2
end begin
    write(f1, "Writing to file 1")
    write(f2, "Writing to file 2")
end

Implementing your own ResourceManager is straightforward:

1. Define your custom type.
2. Add methods for __enter__ and __exit__ that describe how to acquire and release the resource.

This is exactly how the OpenFile is implemented by this package:

struct OpenFile <: ResourceManager
  filename::AbstractString
  mode::AbstractString
  lock::Bool

  file::Ref{IO}

  OpenFile(
    filename::AbstractString, mode::AbstractString="r"; lock=true
  ) = new(
    filename, mode, lock, Ref{IO}()
  )
end

function __enter__(m::OpenFile)
  m.file[] = open(m.filename, m.mode; lock=m.lock)
  return m.file[]
end

function __exit__(m::OpenFile, exc::Union{Nothing,Exception})
  close(m.file[])
end

To run tests for ResourceManagers.jl, execute the following command in your Julia REPL:

] test ResourceManagers

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.