How can I use my specs for their intended purposes if they are in a separate namespace?

Question

One of the examples in the clojure.spec Guide is a simple option-parsing spec:

(require '[clojure.spec :as s])

(s/def ::config
  (s/* (s/cat :prop string?
              :val (s/alt :s string? :b boolean?))))

(s/conform ::config ["-server" "foo" "-verbose" true "-user" "joe"])
;;=> [{:prop "-server", :val [:s "foo"]}
;;    {:prop "-verbose", :val [:b true]}
;;    {:prop "-user", :val [:s "joe"]}]

Later, in the validation section, a function is defined that internally conforms its input using this spec:

(defn- set-config [prop val]
  (println "set" prop val))

(defn configure [input]
  (let [parsed (s/conform ::config input)]
    (if (= parsed ::s/invalid)
      (throw (ex-info "Invalid input" (s/explain-data ::config input)))
      (doseq [{prop :prop [_ val] :val} parsed]
        (set-config (subs prop 1) val)))))

(configure ["-server" "foo" "-verbose" true "-user" "joe"])
;; set server foo
;; set verbose true
;; set user joe
;;=> nil

Since the guide is meant to be easy to follow from the REPL, all of this code is evaluated in the same namespace. In this answer, though, @levand recommends putting specs in separate namespaces:

I usually put specs in their own namespace, alongside the namespace that they are describing.

This would break the usage of ::config above, but that problem can be remedied:

It is preferable for spec key names to be in the namespace of the code, however, not the namespace of the spec. This is still easy to do by using a namespace alias on the keyword:

(ns my.app.foo.specs
  (:require [my.app.foo :as f]))

(s/def ::f/name string?)

He goes on to explain that specs and implementations could be put in the same namespace, but it wouldn't be ideal:

While I certainly could put them right alongside the spec'd code in the same file, that hurts readability IMO.

However, I'm having trouble seeing how this can work with destructuring. As an example, I put together a little Boot project with the above code translated into multiple namespaces.

boot.properties:

BOOT_CLOJURE_VERSION=1.9.0-alpha7

src/example/core.clj:

(ns example.core
  (:require [clojure.spec :as s]))

(defn- set-config [prop val]
  (println "set" prop val))

(defn configure [input]
  (let [parsed (s/conform ::config input)]
    (if (= parsed ::s/invalid)
      (throw (ex-info "Invalid input" (s/explain-data ::config input)))
      (doseq [{prop :prop [_ val] :val} parsed]
        (set-config (subs prop 1) val)))))

src/example/spec.clj:

(ns example.spec
  (:require [clojure.spec :as s]
            [example.core :as core]))

(s/def ::core/config
  (s/* (s/cat :prop string?
              :val (s/alt :s string? :b boolean?))))

build.boot:

(set-env! :source-paths #{"src"})

(require '[example.core :as core])

(deftask run []
  (with-pass-thru _
    (core/configure ["-server" "foo" "-verbose" true "-user" "joe"])))

But of course, when I actually run this, I get an error:

$ boot run
clojure.lang.ExceptionInfo: Unable to resolve spec: :example.core/config

I could fix this problem by adding (require 'example.spec) to build.boot, but that's ugly and error-prone, and will only become more so as my number of spec namespaces increases. I can't require the spec namespace from the implementation namespace, for several reasons. Here's an example that uses fdef.

boot.properties:

BOOT_CLOJURE_VERSION=1.9.0-alpha7

src/example/spec.clj:

(ns example.spec
  (:require [clojure.spec :as s]))

(alias 'core 'example.core)

(s/fdef core/divisible?
  :args (s/cat :x integer? :y (s/and integer? (complement zero?)))
  :ret boolean?)

(s/fdef core/prime?
  :args (s/cat :x integer?)
  :ret boolean?)

(s/fdef core/factor
  :args (s/cat :x (s/and integer? pos?))
  :ret (s/map-of (s/and integer? core/prime?) (s/and integer? pos?))
  :fn #(== (-> % :args :x) (apply * (for [[a b] (:ret %)] (Math/pow a b)))))

src/example/core.clj:

(ns example.core
  (:require [example.spec]))

(defn divisible? [x y]
  (zero? (rem x y)))

(defn prime? [x]
  (and (< 1 x)
       (not-any? (partial divisible? x)
                 (range 2 (inc (Math/floor (Math/sqrt x)))))))

(defn factor [x]
  (loop [x x y 2 factors {}]
    (let [add #(update factors % (fnil inc 0))]
      (cond
        (< x 2) factors
        (< x (* y y)) (add x)
        (divisible? x y) (recur (/ x y) y (add y))
        :else (recur x (inc y) factors)))))

build.boot:

(set-env!
 :source-paths #{"src"}
 :dependencies '[[org.clojure/test.check "0.9.0" :scope "test"]])

(require '[clojure.spec.test :as stest]
         '[example.core :as core])

(deftask run []
  (with-pass-thru _
    (prn (stest/run-all-tests))))

The first problem is the most obvious:

$ boot run
clojure.lang.ExceptionInfo: No such var: core/prime?
    data: {:file "example/spec.clj", :line 16}
java.lang.RuntimeException: No such var: core/prime?

In my spec for factor, I want to use my prime? predicate to validate the returned factors. The cool thing about this factor spec is that, assuming prime? is correct, it both completely documents the factor function and eliminates the need for me to write any other tests for that function. But if you think that's just too cool, you can replace it with pos? or something.

Unsurprisingly, though, you'll still get an error when you try boot run again, this time complaining that the :args spec for either #'example.core/divisible? or #'example.core/prime? or #'example.core/factor (whichever it happens to try first) is missing. This is because, regardless of whether you alias a namespace or not, fdef won't use that alias unless the symbol you give it names a var that already exists. If the var doesn't exist, the symbol doesn't get expanded. (For even more fun, remove the :as core from build.boot and see what happens.)

If you want to keep that alias, you need to remove the (:require [example.spec]) from example.core and add a (require 'example.spec) to build.boot. Of course, that require needs to come after the one for example.core, or it won't work. And at that point, why not just put the require directly into example.spec?

All of these problems would be solved by putting the specs in the same file as the implementations. So, should I really put specs in separate namespaces from implementations? If so, how can the problems I've detailed above be solved?

Answer 1

This question demonstrates an important distinction between specs used within an application and specs used to test the application.

Specs used within the app to conform or validate input — like :example.core/config here — are part of the application code. They may be in the same file where they are used or in a separate file. In the latter case, the application code must :require the specs, just like any other code.

Specs used as tests are loaded after the code they specify. These are your fdefs and generators. You can put these in a separate namespace from the code — even in a separate directory, not packaged with your application — and they will :require the code.

It's possible you have some predicates or utility functions that are used by both kinds of specs. These would go in a separate namespace all of their own.