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Status: Draft
Type: Standards Track
Erlang-Version: R16A
Created: 04-Feb-2013

EEP 41: Pseudo-assignment for Erlang


Add the infix token ':=' to Erlang with the purely functional update semantics of '<-' in R.


Given the declarations

-record(rect, {top,left,bottom,right}).
-record(whatever, {region, ...}).

centre(#rect{top=T,left=L,bottom=B,right=R}) ->
    {(L+R)/2, (T+B)/2}.

'centre:='(#rect{top=T,left=L,bottom=B,right=R}, {X,Y}) ->
    DX = X - (L+R)/2,
    DY = Y - (T+B)/2,

the pseudo-assignment

centre(W#whatever.region) := P

expands to

W' = W#whatever{
       region = 'centre:='(W#whatever.region, P)}

with W' automatically replacing downstream mentions of W.


A new token ':=' is introduced. It may only be used in the form

Lhs := Rhs

where Rhs is any Erlang expression, called the source, and Lhs, called the target, is

  • a variable (not a wildcard),
  • Lhs' #record.field, or
  • ~f(Lhs'), or
  • f(Lhs', E2, ..., En), or
  • m:f(Lhs', E2, ..., En)

where E2 ... En are any Erlang expressions, Lhs' is another instance of the same form, f is an atom, and the module prefix m may only be an atom or a variable.

The "ultimate target"

  • of a variable is that variable,
  • of L#r.f is the ultimate target of L,
  • of ~f(L) is the ultimate target of L,
  • of f(L,...) is the ultimate target of L,
  • of m:f(L,...) is the ultimate target of L.

Any pseudo-assignment is basically a (re)binding of its ultimate target and has as its value the value given to that variable, not the source right hand side.

A pseudo-assignment is equivalent to a sequence of simple variable=expression bindings joined by comma, and may appear anywhere in an expression that such a sequence of bindings may appear, except that if it occurs inside a list comprehension, the ultimate target must not be mentioned outside that comprehension.

The semantics of pseudo-assignment is defined using three conceptual stages: protection, expansion, and renaming.


The basic idea is that

f(T, E2, ..., En) := S

is syntactic sugar for

T := 'f:='(T, E2, ..., En, S)

This form of pseudo-assignment comes from S (S R), although Pop-2 (P) had an analogous approach much earlier, and somewhat similar "sinister function calls" were found in SETL (M) (which looks imperative but whose values are semantically immutable).

Where things get slightly complicated is that we want subexpressions of T1, E2, ..., En, S evaluated exactly once and in order. This is like the way the Common Lisp (L) macros that work with generalised variables "[evaluate] the subforms of the macro call [...] exactly once in left-to-right order". Let's start with an example:

f(g(T, E1), E2) := E3

=> V1 = E1, g(T, V1) := 'f:='(g(T, V1), E2, E3)

=> V1 = E1, T := 'g:='(T, V1, 'f:='(g(T, V1), E2, E3))

so that E1 is not evaluated twice.

This step is defined using Erlang pseudo-code, in which <[...]> brackets are "quasi-quotes" enclosing source syntax representations of abstract syntax trees. Informally, do a pre-order walk over the AST adding V=Arg bindings for every non-first argument Arg of each function but the top-most, for any Arg that needs it. Which arguments do not need this protection? Ones whose evaluation cannot produce any observable effects, which we can approximate well enough by saying that variables and constants don't need protection and everything else does.

% protect(ast()) -> ast()

protect(<[ Lhs := Rhs ]>) ->
    {Lhs', Bindings} = protect(Lhs, 0, []),
    prepend_bindings(Bindings, <[ Lhs' := Rhs ]>).

% prepend_bindings([ast()], ast()) -> ast().

prepend_bindings([Binding|Bindings], E) ->
    E' = prepend_bindings(Bindings, E),
    <[ Binding, E' ]>;
prepend_bindings([], E) ->

% protect(Expr::ast(), Depth::int(), [ast()]) ->
%     {ast(), [ast()].

protect(<[ Var ]>, _, B) ->
    {<[ Var ]>, B};
protect(<[ ~F(T) ]>, D, B) ->
    {T', B'} = protect(T, D+1, B),
    {<[ ~F(T') ]>, B'};
protect(<[ T#R.F ]>, D, B) ->
    {<[ T'@R.F ]>, B'};
protect(<[ F(T,E2,...,En) ]>, D = 0, B) ->
    {<[ F(T',E2,...,En) ]>, B');
protect(<[ F(T,E2,...,En) ]>, D, B) when D > 0 ->
    {[E2',...,En'], B'} = protect_args([E2,...,En], B),
    {T', B''} = protect(T, D+1, B),
    {F(T',E2',...,En'), B''};
protect(<[ M:F(T,E2,...,En) ]>, D = 0, B) ->
    {<[ M:F(T',E2,...,En) ]>, B'');
    {M:F(T',E2',...,En'), B''};

% protect_args([ast()], [ast()]) -> {[ast()], [ast()]}.

protect_args([], B) ->
    {[], B};
protect_args([<[ Var ]>|Args], B) ->
    {Args', B'} = protect_args(Args, B),
    {[< Var ]>|Args'], B'};
protect_args([<[ Const ]>|Args], B) ->
    {[< Const ]>|Args'], B'};
protect_args([<[ E ]>|Args], B) ->
    V = a new variable,
    {Args', B'} = protect_args(Args, [<[ V = E ]>|B]),
    {[<[ V ]>|Args'], B'}.


Expansion recursively rewrites pseudo-assignments until the target is a simple variable.

L#r.f := E
=>  L := L#r{f = E}

~f(L) := E          
=>  L := <{f ~ E | L}>

f(L, E2, ..., En) := E
=> L := 'f:='(L, E2, ..., En, E)

m:f(L, E2, ..., En) := E
=> L := m:'f:='(L, L2, ..., En, E)

An assignment function is not a special kind of function but an ordinary function with a special form of name. They can be exported, imported, remote-called, passed around in or as funs, using existing Erlang means.

In particular, there is no automatic connection between f/n and 'f:=/(n+1). Importing or exporting one does not automatically import or export the other.


After expansion and renaming, there are exactly as many pseudo-assignments as there were before, but each one now has a simple variable as its entire target.

This is handled by renaming. Instead of thinking of a variable as identified by a name, think of it as identified by a «name,version» pair. So the assignment

V := E

is to be thought of (and indeed transformed to)

«V,n+1» = E

where n is the highest version of V appearing on the execution path to this rebinding. If there is no such version, n = 0. So

X := f(...),
X := g(..X..),
X := h(..X..),


«X,1» = f(...),
«X,2» = g(..«X,1»..),
«X,3» = h(..«X,2»..),

Sequenceas are easy. The difficulty is control paths that split and rejoin, like 'if' or 'case'.

If E is a split-join control path, and X is a variable that appears in in E and is live after it, and the last occurrences of X in each branch of E do not all have the same version, then let «X,m» be the highest version of X in E. On each branch of E where a version of X is created, replace the highest version of X by «X,m». If a branch does not create a version of X and X is not live on entry to E, this is already an error in Erlang, and we don't change that. If «X,p» is the version of X that is live on entry to E, then add

«X,m» = «X,p»

just after the -> arrow of each branch that does not update X. Here's an exmaple.

W = 137,
if X < Y  -> Z = X-1, Z := Z*(Y+1)
 ; X >= Y -> Z = 42, W := 3145
f(Z, W)


«W,1» = 137,
if «X,1» < «Y,1» ->
      «W,2» = «W,1»,   % patch
      «Z,1» = «X,1» - 1,
      «Z,2» = «Z,1»*(«Y,1»+1)
 ; «X,1» >= «Y,1» ->
      «Z,2» = 42,     % patch
      «W,2» = 3145
f(«Z,2», «W,2»)

The first patch line is added because that branch does not update W, and it is added where it is so as not to interfere with the result of the rest of the branch. The second patch line would have bound «Z,1» except that the version was pushed up to to match the other branch.

In effect, we are working with static single assignment form, and the patches are pushing the phi-function back into the branches.

The semantic analyser and code generator of the compiler never get to hear about pseudo-assignment. There is no reason why different versions of a variable should be allocated the same virtual register or memory cell; it's up to the register allocator to do that if it is useful or to do otherwise if that's more useful.


Several people have complained on the Erlang mailing list that having to write

X  = f(...),
X1 = g(..X..),
X2 = h(..X1...)

is error prone as well as tedious because if they have to reorder the sequence of transformations, add a transformation, or remove one, they have to rename the variables.

The fact that "assignment" to whole variables can be modelled in a pure declarative language using renaming has been known for a long time. I knew it when writing "The Craft of Prolog", and it was folklore then. The question was not could we support

X := f(...),
X := g(..X..),
X := h(..X..),

but should we?

Loïc Hoguin has argued strongly that "[he] just wants primitives to easily update deep data structures" (26 Jan 2013), saying that Erlang's handling of records is inadequate because it makes this difficult. He wrote (25 Jan 2013):

Assume a variable Character. This variable contains everything about the character. How do you best access and modify Character? The answer must not involve the process dictionary, processes or message passing. Today I have to write each access and modification function. Or I can generate it, but either way I end up with hundreds of functions in many modules. Or I could use records, and have one line per sub-record per modification function I write. That's not easy nor practical. Easy and practical is:


for access, and:

Character.weapon.ability.cost = 123

for modification.

I don't propose to give him that, but

C = cost(ability(Character#cinfo.weapon)),
cost(ability(Character#cinfo.weapon)) := C + 123

he can have, where all functions might be inlined, or

C = ~cost ~ability ~weapon Character,
~cost ~ability ~weapon Character := C + 123

in that bright future when we have frames.

The good part, from my point of view, is that this brief syntax can be had without introducing mutable data structures. This is pseudo-assignment. And it is a proven technique that has been used for over 25 years.

The bad part, for die-hard assignment fans, is that updating deep paths this way requires allocating modified copies of records along the way, but we can't change that without altering fundamental properties of Erlang.


The questions are: what kind of "assignment" should be offered, what syntax should be used for assignment and what targets should` be allowed.

Without adding a type system that would permit Haskell-style monads or Clean/Mercury-style uniqueness tracking, there are two ways to add assignment to Erlang: the Lisp way and the S way. The Lisp way is to offer the real thing in all its destructive power. That would have the huge benefit of making Erlang much more comfortable for C/Java/JavaScript programmers, and we could look forward to the day when Erlang syntax is finally reformed to be JavaScript with threads. It would also have the huge price of requiring major changes to the Erlang compiler and runtime system and of voiding one of the major guarantees ("your data is safe with us") cherished by Erlang programmers. It would make Erlang programs harder to get right. Frankly, if we want JavaScript with threads, we'd do much better to add threads to JavaScript.

The other way is the S way. S is a programming language devised by John Chambers at AT&T for programming statistics algorithms. The revised language definition was published in 1988. The syntax of S looks like slightly deranged C, but the semantics is astonishingly functional. In particular, at least up to S3, S values did not detectably share mutable parts. An S assignment like

a[i,j] <- 0

is equivalent to

"["(a, i, j) <- 0

which is in turn equivalent to

a <- "[<-"(a, i, j, value = 0)

and this is not merely a fashion of speaking, there really is a function named "[<-" which is really called. With its C-like syntax, immutable data structures, and lazily evaluated function arguments, the S language is is definitely strange. But it is highly practical. The R repository has a huge range of packages doing amazing and useful things; it is used in Statistics courses around the world; and there is an abundance of excellent books teaching and using S/R. So while the idea of "assignment" being syntactic sugar for computing a new whole value and rebinding it to a value may seem unfamiliar, it is demonstrably both workable and usable.

Since there is a battle-tested form of "assignment" that does not require mutable data structures, that's clearly the way for Erlang to go.

As for syntax, I am familiar with

  • Lhs = Rhs (Fortran, COBOL, BASIC, C)
  • Lhs := Rhs (Algol, Pascal, Modula, Ada, ANSI Smalltalk)
  • Lhs left-arrow Rhs (APL, classic Smalltalk)
  • Lhs <- Rhs (S)
  • Rhs -> Lhs (S, Pop-2)
  • (set! Lhs Rhs) (Scheme)
  • (setf Lhs Rhs) (Lisp)

Of these, Erlang already uses =, <-, and -> for other purposes, and the Unicode left arrow remains difficult to type. Erlang syntax is not Lisp syntax, and while LFE has Lispy macros, plain Erlang does not. This leaves := as the sole credible contender.

As for the targets of pseudo-assignments, we could simply allow Erlang variables. The ability to do renaming-style assignments has been frequently requested in the Erlang mailing list. It is important to understand that the renaming approach to variable "assignment" does not require the ability to rewrite a memory cell: different "versions" of a variable may well occupy different cells, and whether they do or not is up to the register allocator.

We have also seen Erlang criticised for being unable to express chained record updates clearly. Instead of

X1 = X#r{f = X#r.f#s{g = X#r.f#s.g#t{h = 42}}}

many people would rather write

X#r.f#s.g#t.h := 42

and who can blame them? (Well, me. I think they should not be writing code like that whatever the syntax, and found in my own C code that purging it of pointer chains uncovered a scary number of present and potential bugs. The basic nature of the problem is excessive coupling.) So we want to allow field references as targets.

The ~f(L) syntax comes from the frames proposal. If record fields are pseudo-assignable, so should frame slots be.

If we want to pseudo-assign to elements of hash tables or array-like structures, we have to allow function calls. The example of S shows that we can include function calls on the left of assignments, meaning that we can do

at(Dict, Key) ->
    case dict:find(Dict, Key)
      of {ok,V} -> V
       ; error  -> 0

'at:='(Dict, Key, Value) ->
    dict:store(Key, Value, Dict).


    at(D, K) := at(D, K) + 1
'element:='(N, Tuple, V) ->
    setelement(N, Tuple, V).
   A := {0,0,0}, 
   element(1, A) := 3,
   element(2, A) := 1,
   element(3, A) := 4

Some languages let you assign to substrings. If we can pseudo-assign to function calls, we need no extra machinery for that:

'substr:='(String, Start, New) ->
    string:substr(String, 1, Start - 1) ++ New.

'substr:='(String, Start, Length, New) ->
    string:substr(String, 1, Start - 1) ++ New ++
    string:substr(String, Start + Length - 1).

The next step in generality would be to follow Algol 68 and allow

if G1 -> B1, L1
 ; ...
 ; Gn -> Bn, Ln
end := E


if G1 -> B1, L1 := E
 ; ...
 ; Gn -> Bn, Ln := E

with similar definitions for 'case' &c. I can't see a straightforward way to implement that without either duplicating E or doing computations out of order, so it seemed like a good idea to stop just before this point.

The 'expansion' step above says that importing or exporting f/n does not automatically import or export 'f:='/(n+1). This could be a source of unimportant but annoying errors. I expect using assignment functions to be more common than defining them, and you can write a remote call to a function without explicitly importing it, so writing

string:substr(Line, Comment_Start) := ""

does not require any special declaration. The possible mistake, then, is to define f/n and 'f:='/(n+1) in a module and export the first without exporting the second. If this does turn out to be a problem, it will be easy enough to add a rule that if f/n is exported and 'f:='/(n+1) is defined, the assignment form is exported too. Let's wait and see if it's really needed.

Should pseudo-assignment syntax be allowed for a variable's initial binding? There does not seem to be any compelling reason to forbid it.

There is a compelling reason to forbid variables being pseudo-assigned inside a list comprehension that are used outside it. List comprehensions could be compiled inline instead of generating out-of-line recursive functions, as they currently do. And variable assignment by actual honest-to-goodness smash-that-memory-cell assignment could be used to implement such assignments. And the formal semantics could remain renaming. But the code generator would have to know about it. The renaming semantics could be implemented with the out-of-line approach, but the current values of such variables would have to be passed in and returned, creating overheads that would surprise me, let alone other programmers. Simpler by far just to forbid it. This is not entirely unlike the somewhat fiddly scope rules for variables in anonymous functions.

Backwards Compatibility

The token ':=' and the token sequence ':' '=' are not currently legal anywhere in Erlang source code, so no existing code is directly affected.

Pseudo-assignment is defined as a source to source transformation. This transformation is local to the function clause affected and can done entirely within the parser.

This means that anything in the Erlang tool chain downstream from the parser is unaffected by this change. In particular, profiling, monitoring, and debugging tools just see plain old Erlang.

Reference Implementation

None in this draft, though implementation hints are given.



This document has been placed in the public domain.


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