CSC/ECE 517 Summer 2008/wiki1 3 aobk

Reflection in Ruby and Java

What is Reflection?

Reflection, in the realm of Computer Science, is the process of introspection by a program. Introspection allows program entities to discover things about themselves. Through the technique of metaprogramming, aspects of a program are examined from within the program itself, which enables the program to modify itself at runtime.

By looking at and inside classes and objects, much can be discovered, including the following:

• what objects are contained in a program
• the class hierarchy
• the attributes and methods of the objects contained in the program
• various method information

One of the design challenges of using Reflection is that you need to clarify what services you wish to provide at runtime that don't want to implement statically. The provision of reusable services that vary based upon the runtime environment is one of the reasons that frameworks such as Struts and JAAS are created. However, even small applications can face design issues that make a dynamic solution preferable over a static one. A word of caution though, over-reliance on Reflection can lead to performance issues because of the extra overhead of determining what class(es) need to be loaded.

Java Reflection Sequences

Reflection in Java

Java uses a Reflection API to inspect and manipulate itself. It includes the expanded class class in java.lang and the java.lang.reflect package, which represents the members of a class with Method, Constructor and Field objects.Reflection can be used to obtain information about a class and its members.

Example:

• This example uses the Class.forName() method to dynamically load the named class, and then calls various methods of the class object to look up the Superclass, Interfaces, and Members of the class. The example uses Constructor, Field and Method objects to obtain information about each member of the class.

import java.lang.reflect.*;

/** A program that displays a class synopsis for the named class */

public class ShowClass {
  /** The main method.  Print info about the named class */
  public static void main(String[] args) throws ClassNotFoundException {
    Class c = Class.forName(args[0]);
    print_class(c);
  }

  /** Display the modifiers, name, superclass and interfaces of a class
   *  or interface. Then go and list all constructors, fields, and methods. */
  public static void print_class(Class c)
  {
    // Print modifiers, type (class or interface), name and superclass.
    if (c.isInterface()) {
      // The modifiers will include the "interface" keyword here...
      System.out.print(Modifier.toString(c.getModifiers()) + " "+c.getName());
    }
    else if (c.getSuperclass() != null)
      System.out.print(Modifier.toString(c.getModifiers()) + " class " +
                       c.getName() +
                       " extends " + c.getSuperclass().getName());
    else
      System.out.print(Modifier.toString(c.getModifiers()) + " class " +
                       c.getName());
        
    // Print interfaces or super-interfaces of the class or interface.
    Class[] interfaces = c.getInterfaces();
    if ((interfaces != null) && (interfaces.length > 0)) {
      if (c.isInterface()) System.out.println(" extends ");
      else System.out.print(" implements ");
      for(int i = 0; i < interfaces.length; i++) {
        if (i > 0) System.out.print(", ");
        System.out.print(interfaces[i].getName());
      }
    }

    System.out.println(" {");            // Begin class member listing.

    // Now look up and display the members of the class.
    System.out.println(" // Constructors");
    Constructor[] constructors = c.getDeclaredConstructors();
    for(int i = 0; i < constructors.length; i++)      // Display constructors.
      print_method_or_constructor(constructors[i]);

    System.out.println(" // Fields");
    Field[] fields = c.getDeclaredFields();           // Look up fields.
    for(int i = 0; i < fields.length; i++)            // Display them.
      print_field(fields[i]);

    System.out.println(" // Methods");
    Method[] methods = c.getDeclaredMethods();        // Look up methods.
    for(int i = 0; i < methods.length; i++)           // Display them.
      print_method_or_constructor(methods[i]);

    System.out.println("}");             // End class member listing.
  }

  /** Return the name of an interface or primitive type, handling arrays. */
  public static String typename(Class t) {
    String brackets = "";
    while(t.isArray()) {
      brackets += "[]";
      t = t.getComponentType();
    }
    return t.getName() + brackets;
  }

  /** Return a string version of modifiers, handling spaces nicely. */
  public static String modifiers(int m) {
    if (m == 0) return "";
    else return Modifier.toString(m) + " ";
  }

  /** Print the modifiers, type, and name of a field */
  public static void print_field(Field f) {
    System.out.println("  " +
                       modifiers(f.getModifiers()) +
                       typename(f.getType()) + " " + f.getName() + ";");
  }

  /** Print the modifiers, return type, name, parameter types and exception
   *  type of a method or constructor.  Note the use of the Member interface
   *  to allow this method to work with both Method and Constructor objects */
  public static void print_method_or_constructor(Member member) {
    Class returntype=null, parameters[], exceptions[];
    if (member instanceof Method) {
      Method m = (Method) member;
      returntype = m.getReturnType();
      parameters = m.getParameterTypes();
      exceptions = m.getExceptionTypes();
    } else {
      Constructor c = (Constructor) member;
      parameters = c.getParameterTypes();
      exceptions = c.getExceptionTypes();
    }

    System.out.print("  " + modifiers(member.getModifiers()) +
                     ((returntype!=null)? typename(returntype)+" " : "") +
                     member.getName() + "(");
    for(int i = 0; i < parameters.length; i++) {
      if (i > 0) System.out.print(", ");
      System.out.print(typename(parameters[i]));
    }
    System.out.print(")");
    if (exceptions.length > 0) System.out.print(" throws ");
    for(int i = 0; i < exceptions.length; i++) {
      if (i > 0) System.out.print(", ");
      System.out.print(typename(exceptions[i]));
    }
    System.out.println(";");
  }
}

This code is then compiled and run, with the following simple test class passed in:

public class testInput {
    public static void main(String[] args) {}
    public int method1() {
        return 0;
    }
    public String method2() {
        return "";
    }
    public void method3() {}
    public void method4(int num) {}
}

The output generated is as follows:

public class testInput extends java.lang.Object {
 // Constructors
  public testInput();
 // Fields
 // Methods
  public int method1();
  public java.lang.String method2();
  public void method3();
  public void method4(int);
  public static void main(java.lang.String[]);
}

Ruby Reflection Sequences

The Java code above, which displays constructors, methods, and other information pertinent to the testInput class, is somewhat convoluted and difficult to trace. In Ruby, the methods below can be called on a module/class to return similar information:

• mod.private_instance_methods(inc_super=true)
• mod.protected_instance_methods(inc_super=true)
• mod.public_instance_methods(inc_super=true)
• mod.singleton_methods(inc_super=true)

For example, using the Demo class below, all of the class' methods (private, protected, public, and singleton) can be easily displayed.

irb(main):001:0> class Demo
irb(main):002:1>   public
irb(main):003:1>     def method1
irb(main):004:2>   end
irb(main):005:1>   private
irb(main):006:1>     def method2
irb(main):007:2>   end
irb(main):008:1>   public
irb(main):009:1>     def method3
irb(main):010:2>   end
irb(main):011:1>   protected
irb(main):012:1>     def method4
irb(main):013:2>   end
irb(main):014:1>   def Demo.method5
irb(main):015:2>   end
irb(main):016:1>   public
irb(main):017:1>     def method6
irb(main):018:2>   end
irb(main):019:1> end
=> nil
irb(main):020:0> Demo.private_instance_methods(false)
=> ["method2"]
irb(main):021:0> Demo.protected_instance_methods(false)
=> ["method4"]
irb(main):022:0> Demo.public_instance_methods(false)
=> ["method3", "method6", "method1"]
irb(main):023:0> Demo.singleton_methods(false)
=> ["method5"]

Ruby Reflection vs. Java Reflection

• By coding and comparing we find that Reflection in Java tends to be more verbose than Ruby code which accomplishes the same task. Also, exceptions such as NoSuchMethodError and InvocationTargetException tend to create further complications and confusion when using Java's reflection API.

• Reflection API in java is also used in Database Access with SQL.

• In Ruby, Aspect Oriented Programming(AOP) can be performed using aliasing, reflection and metaprogramming. These language facilities make it much easier to perform AOP than in Java.

Uses of Reflection

Reflection is commonly used by programs which require the ability to examine or modify the runtime behavior of applications running in the Java virtual machine. This is a relatively advanced feature and should be used only by developers who have a strong grasp of the fundamentals of the language. With that caveat in mind, reflection is a powerful technique and can enable applications to perform operations which would otherwise be impossible.

• Extensibility Features

An application may make use of external, user-defined classes by creating instances of extensibility objects using their fully-qualified names.

• Class Browsers and Visual Development Environments

A class browser needs to be able to enumerate the members of classes. Visual development environments can benefit from making use of type information available in reflection to aid the developer in writing correct code.

• Debuggers and Test Tools

Debuggers need to be able to examine private members on classes. Test harnesses can make use of reflection to systematically call a discoverable set APIs defined on a class, to insure a high level of code coverage in a test suite.

Drawbacks of Reflection

Reflection is powerful, but should not be used indiscriminately. If it is possible to perform an operation without using reflection, then it is preferable to avoid using it. The following concerns should be kept in mind when accessing code via reflection.

• Performance Overhead

Because reflection involves types that are dynamically resolved, certain Java virtual machine optimizations can not be performed. Consequently, reflective operations have slower performance than their non-reflective counterparts, and should be avoided in sections of code which are called frequently in performance-sensitive applications.

• Security Restrictions

Reflection requires a runtime permission which may not be present when running under a security manager. This is in an important consideration for code which has to run in a restricted security context, such as in an Applet.

• Exposure of Internals

Since reflection allows code to perform operations that would be illegal in non-reflective code, such as accessing private fields and methods, the use of reflection can result in unexpected side-effects, which may render code dysfunctional and may destroy portability. Reflective code breaks abstractions and therefore may change behavior with upgrades of the platform.

Refrences

1. Flanagan, David. Java Examples in a Nutshell. O'Reilly, 2004.
2. Thomas, Dave. Programming Ruby. Raleigh: Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2004.

External Links

• http://phrogz.net/programmingruby/ospace.html
• http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/reflect/
• http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/ALT/Reflection/index.html