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Preventing Recursion in Ruby
Posted by avdi January 24, 2012
Sometimes you need to prevent code from executing recursively. I had to do this recently in order to prevent an infinite recursion in ActiveRecord callbacks. A before-save hook needed to save a parent model attribute, which because of an :autosave option would then try to save the child model, which would then try to save the parent… and so on until the stack overflowed.
Unless the method is directly calling itself, the only way to short-circuit a method when it recurses is to have it set some global flag which it can then check in recursive calls. If the flag is already set, the recursively called method bails out early. Once the original invocation is finished it unsets the flag.
It’s not safe to use a true global variable for this flag, since this would not be threadsafe. The safe way to do it (albeit not a terribly pretty one) is to use thread-local variables.
I decided to go ahead and write a macro which can turn any method into a non-recursive one. Here’s the code:
def prevent_recursion(method_name)
flag_name = "in:#{name}##{method_name}"
original = instance_method(method_name)
define_method(method_name) do |*args|
return if Thread.current[flag_name]
begin
Thread.current[flag_name] = true
original.bind(self).call(*args)
ensure
Thread.current[flag_name] = nil
end
end
end
end
Let’s take a closer look at that.
The method takes an argument, method_name, which is the name of the method to make non-recursive.
Then it creates a name for the recursion flag. Since thread-local variables are global for the whole thread, we need a variable name which is reasonably unique. We get one by combining the current class and the method name.
We’re going to replace the method with a modified version, so we need to stash the original implementation somewhere. We grab an UnboundMethod object by calling #instance_method() on the current class:
Then we proceed to redefine the method:
The first thing the modified method does is check to see if the recursion flag is set. If it is, it bails out.
Otherwise, it sets the flag:
And then it binds the UnboundMethod stored in original to the current instance. This generates a Method instance, which it proceeds to call, passing any arguments along.
(Note that I wrote this code for a Ruby 1.8 codebase. If it were for 1.9 I would pass the &block down to the original as well. Since blocks in 1.8 can’t accept &block arguments, I can’t do that here so long as I’m using the block form of define_method. So this macro will only work for methods which do not take blocks.)
Finally, the code ensures that the recursion flag will be unset when the method is finished, even if an exception is raised.
Thread.current[flag_name] = nil
end
Note that setting a thread-local variable to nil removes it:
Thread.current[:foo] = 42
Thread.current.keys # => [:foo, :__inspect_key__]
Thread.current[:foo] = nil
Thread.current.keys # => [:__inspect_key__]
I have no idea what :__inspect_key__ is, but as you can see the :foo key goes away after setting it to nil.
Let’s take a look at this in practice. Here’s are two methods #foo and #bar (original, no?). #foo is recursive, with #bar as an intermediary, preventing it from passing a recursion flag directly to itself.
def foo
bar
"foo done"
end
def bar
foo
end
end
Calling the #foo method results in a stack overflow:
X.new.foo rescue $! # => #<SystemStackError: stack level too deep>
But if we update the method with prevent_recursion, it successfully exits:
class X
extend RecursionHelpers
prevent_recursion :foo
end
X.new.foo # => "foo done"
Participating in VentureBox
Posted by Taus October 19, 2011
Last week at the Bend Venture Conference, Central Oregon’s newest (and only) business accelerator was unveiled. VentureBox is a business accelerator focused on supporting concept stage startups. The initiative is a program of the Tech Alliance and is committed to Central Oregon’s entrepreneurial community and helping turn innovative product and service ideas into great companies.
Although a much larger group of mentors will be announced, the current team is pretty impressive and represents management, finance, technology and other key skills for early stage companies. VentureBox will be offering mentorships, infrastructure and a milestone-based program to develop startups into investment-ready enterprises.
We think that VentureBox has great potential to help diversify the Central Oregon community and create sustainable, living wage jobs. That’s why we’re proud to be supporting and participating in the effort!
Go to blog postSponsoring the Bend Venture Conference
Posted by Taus September 23, 2011
Bend has a strong and growing startup ecosystem. The early-stage companies in our community include innovation in software, clean energy, recreation and countless other industries. We even have an active group of angel investors, advisors and mentors that help to shepherd these companies from idea to profitability and acquisition.
Perhaps the most well-recognized effort in this arena is the Bend Venture Conference. For several years, the homegrown BVC has attracted startups from across the Pacific Northwest to compete for cash investment and the and the attention of the regional angel and VC community. Previous investments have included some great companies ranging from medical devices to web-based SaaS providers. This year’s keynote speaker is in none other than Andy Sack, the Executive Director of TechStars Seattle and the Founder and CEO of Lighter Capital.
The BVC is the highlight and in some ways the epicenter of Bend’s thriving entrepreneurial spirit. So we are proud to support the efforts of the conference organizers and hope to see you at the event.
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