[ruby-core:87992] [Ruby trunk Feature#14914] Add BasicObject#instance_exec_with_block

Issue #14914 has been updated by jeremyevans0 (Jeremy Evans).


matz (Yukihiro Matsumoto) wrote:
> Real-world use-case, please?

This is needed when you don't control the block you want to instance_exec, because it comes from another library or the user.  If such a block requires a block argument, you can't use instance_exec.  Currently in this situation, you need to define a method on the receiver to get similar behavior.

One case where this could be used is in Sequel, where currently we define multiple methods for all associations where the default implementation for each method can be modified by the user using options with proc values (where the procs can potentially accept block arguments).  We can't use instance_exec to execute the procs directly, because that can't handle block arguments.  We could potentially use instance_exec_with_block to avoid defining methods in cases where methods are not needed and only created to work around this limitation in instance_exec.

> Any problem with the following code?
> 
> ```
> blk = proc{|x| self * x}
> 1.instance_exec(42, 2) do |a, b|
>   (self + a).instance_exec(b, &blk)
> end
> # => 86
> ```

This requires that you control the block and can modify it to use the closed over variable.  You can't use this approach if you don't control the block being instance_execed.

----------------------------------------
Feature #14914: Add BasicObject#instance_exec_with_block
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/14914#change-73005

* Author: jeremyevans0 (Jeremy Evans)
* Status: Open
* Priority: Normal
* Assignee: 
* Target version: 
----------------------------------------
Currently, you cannot use `instance_exec` with a block that requires a block argument.  If you have a block that requires a block argument and you want to get the equivalent of `instance_exec`, you have to do something like:

~~~ ruby
singleton_class.define_method(:temporary_method_name, &block)
send(:temporary_method_name, *args, &block_arg)
singleton_class.remove_method(:temporary_method_name)
~~~

That approach doesn't work for frozen objects, making it impossible to get the equivalent of `instance_exec` for a frozen object if you have a block that requires a block argument.

The attached patch implements `instance_exec_with_block`, which is the same as `instance_exec`, except the last argument must be a `Proc` which is passed as the block argument instead of the regular argument to the block.

~~~ ruby
1.instance_exec_with_block(42, 2, proc{|x| self * x}) do |a, b, &blk|
  (self + a).instance_exec(b, &blk)
end
# => 86
~~~

This method cannot be implemented in a gem because it requires changes to `vm.c` and `vm_eval.c` to implement. There wasn't a function allowing you to provide both a cref and a block argument when evaluating a block (hence the addition of `vm_yield_with_cref_and_block` in the patch).

There are alternative APIs that could support this feature.  One approach would be adding support for `:args` and `:block_arg` keyword arguments to `instance_eval` (if no regular arguments are given).

---Files--------------------------------
0001-Add-BasicObject-instance_exec_with_block.patch (6.04 KB)


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