Reflection/List methods

Reflection/List methods is a draft programming task. It is not yet considered ready to be promoted as a complete task, for reasons that should be found in its talk page.

Task

The goal is to get the methods of an object, as names, values or both.

Some languages offer dynamic methods, which in general can only be inspected if a class' public API includes a way of listing them.

C#

<lang csharp>using System; using System.Reflection;

public class Rosetta {

   public static void Main()
   {
       //Let's get all methods, not just public ones.
       BindingFlags flags = BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Static
           | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic
           | BindingFlags.DeclaredOnly;

       foreach (var method in typeof(TestForMethodReflection).GetMethods(flags))
           Console.WriteLine(method.Name);
   }
   
   class TestForMethodReflection
   {
       public void MyPublicMethod() {}
       private void MyPrivateMethod() {}
       
       public static void MyPublicStaticMethod() {}
       private static void MyPrivateStaticMethod() {}
   }
   

}</lang>

Output:

MyPublicMethod
MyPrivateMethod
MyPublicStaticMethod
MyPrivateStaticMethod

//If we do not use BindingFlags.DeclaredOnly, we also get:
ToString
Equals
GetHashCode
GetType
Finalize
MemberwiseClone

Clojure

<lang clojure>

Including listing private methods in the clojure.set namespace

=> (keys (ns-interns 'clojure.set)) (union map-invert join select intersection superset? index bubble-max-key subset? rename rename-keys project difference)

Only public

=> (keys (ns-publics 'clojure.set)) (union map-invert join select intersection superset? index subset? rename rename-keys project difference)</lang>

Go

<lang go>package main

import (

   "fmt"
   "reflect"

)

type t int // a type definition

// some methods on the type func (r t) twice() t { return r * 2 } func (r t) half() t { return r / 2 } func (r t) more() bool { return r > 2 }

func main() {

   o := t(10) // create an "object" of type t
   v := reflect.ValueOf(o)
   t := v.Type()
   n := t.NumMethod()
   fmt.Println(n, "methods:")
   fmt.Println("Name   Method expression    Method value")
   for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
       fmt.Printf("%-5s  %-19s  %s\n",
           t.Method(i).Name,
           t.Method(i).Func.Type(),
           v.Method(i).Type())
   }

}</lang>

Output:

Name   Method expression    Method value
half   func(main.t) main.t  func() main.t
more   func(main.t) bool    func() bool
twice  func(main.t) main.t  func() main.t

Java

<lang java>import java.lang.reflect.Method;

public class ListMethods {

   public int examplePublicInstanceMethod(char c, double d) {
       return 42;
   }

   private boolean examplePrivateInstanceMethod(String s) {
       return true;
   }
   
   public static void main(String[] args) {
       Class clazz = ListMethods.class;

       System.out.println("All public methods (including inherited):");
       for (Method m : clazz.getMethods()) {
           System.out.println(m);
       }
       System.out.println();
       System.out.println("All declared methods (excluding inherited):");
       for (Method m : clazz.getDeclaredMethods()) {
           System.out.println(m);
       }
   }

}</lang>

Output:

public static void ListMethods.main(java.lang.String[])
public int ListMethods.examplePublicInstanceMethod(char,double)
public final void java.lang.Object.wait(long,int) throws java.lang.InterruptedException
public final native void java.lang.Object.wait(long) throws java.lang.InterruptedException
public final void java.lang.Object.wait() throws java.lang.InterruptedException
public boolean java.lang.Object.equals(java.lang.Object)
public java.lang.String java.lang.Object.toString()
public native int java.lang.Object.hashCode()
public final native java.lang.Class java.lang.Object.getClass()
public final native void java.lang.Object.notify()
public final native void java.lang.Object.notifyAll()

All declared methods (excluding inherited):
public static void ListMethods.main(java.lang.String[])
public int ListMethods.examplePublicInstanceMethod(char,double)
private boolean ListMethods.examplePrivateInstanceMethod(java.lang.String)

Julia

Works with: Julia version 0.6

<lang julia>methods(methods) methods(println)</lang>

Output:

# 3 methods for generic function "methods":
methods(f::Core.Builtin) in Base at reflection.jl:588
methods(f::ANY) in Base at reflection.jl:601
methods(f::ANY, t::ANY) in Base at reflection.jl:580

# 3 methods for generic function "println":
println(io::IO) in Base at coreio.jl:6
println(io::IO, xs...) in Base at strings/io.jl:54
println(xs...) in Base at coreio.jl:5

JavaScript

In JavaScript, methods are properties that are functions, so methods are retrieved by getting properties and filtering. There are multiple ways of getting property names, each of which include different subsets of an object's properties, such as enumerable or inherited properties.

<lang javascript>// Sample classes for reflection function Super(name) {

   this.name = name;
   this.superOwn = function() { return 'super owned'; };

} Super.prototype = {

   constructor: Super
   className: 'super',
   toString: function() { return "Super(" + this.name + ")"; },
   doSup: function() { return 'did super stuff'; }

}

function Sub() {

   Object.getPrototypeOf(this).constructor.apply(this, arguments);
   this.rest = [].slice.call(arguments, 1);
   this.subOwn = function() { return 'sub owned'; };

} Sub.prototype = Object.assign(

   new Super('prototype'),
   {
       constructor: Sub
       className: 'sub',
       toString: function() { return "Sub(" + this.name + ")"; },
       doSub: function() { return 'did sub stuff'; }
   });

Object.defineProperty(Sub.prototype, 'shush', {

   value: function() { return ' non-enumerable'; },
   enumerable: false // the default

});

var sup = new Super('sup'),

   sub = new Sub('sub', 0, 'I', 'two');

Object.defineProperty(sub, 'quiet', {

   value: function() { return 'sub owned non-enumerable'; },
   enumerable: false

});

// get enumerable methods on an object and its ancestors function get_method_names(obj) {

   var methods = [];
   for (var p in obj) {
       if (typeof obj[p] == 'function') {
           methods.push(p);
       }
   }
   return methods;

}

get_method_names(sub); //["subOwn", "superOwn", "toString", "doSub", "doSup"]

// get enumerable properties on an object and its ancestors function get_property_names(obj) {

   var properties = [];
   for (var p in obj) {
       properties.push(p);
   }
   return properties;

}

// alternate way to get enumerable method names on an object and its ancestors function get_method_names(obj) {

   return get_property_names(obj)
       .filter(function(p) {return typeof obj[p] == 'function';});

}

get_method_names(sub); //["subOwn", "superOwn", "toString", "doSub", "doSup"]

// get enumerable & non-enumerable method names set directly on an object Object.getOwnPropertyNames(sub)

   .filter(function(p) {return typeof sub[p] == 'function';})

//["subOwn", "shhh"]

// get enumerable method names set directly on an object Object.keys(sub)

   .filter(function(p) {return typeof sub[p] == 'function';})

//["subOwn"]

// get enumerable method names & values set directly on an object Object.entries(sub)

   .filter(function(p) {return typeof p[1] == 'function';})

//[["subOwn", function () {...}]]</lang>

Lingo

<lang lingo>-- parent script "MyClass"

on foo (me)

 put "foo"

end

on bar (me)

 put "bar"

end</lang>

<lang lingo>obj = script("MyClass").new() put obj.handlers() -- [#foo, #bar]

-- The returned list contains the object's methods ("handlers") as "symbols". -- Those can be used like this to call the corresponding method: call(#foo, obj) -- "foo"

call(#bar, obj) -- "bar"</lang>

Objective-C

<lang objc>#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

1. import <objc/runtime.h>

@interface Foo : NSObject @end @implementation Foo - (int)bar:(double)x {

 return 42;

} @end

int main() {

 unsigned int methodCount;
 Method *methods = class_copyMethodList([Foo class], &methodCount);
 for (unsigned int i = 0; i < methodCount; i++) {
   Method m = methods[i];
   SEL selector = method_getName(m);
   const char *typeEncoding = method_getTypeEncoding(m);
   NSLog(@"%@\t%s", NSStringFromSelector(selector), typeEncoding);
 }
 free(methods);
 return 0;

}</lang>

Output:

bar:	i24@0:8d16

Perl 6

You can get a list of an object's methods using .^methods, which is part of the Meta Object Protocol.
Each is represented as a Method object that contains a bunch of info:

<lang perl6>class Foo {

   method foo ($x)      { }
   method bar ($x, $y)  { }
   method baz ($x, $y?) { }

}

my $object = Foo.new;

for $object.^methods {

   say join ", ", .name, .arity, .count, .signature.gist

}</lang>

Output:

foo, 2, 2, (Foo $: $x, *%_)
bar, 3, 3, (Foo $: $x, $y, *%_)
baz, 2, 3, (Foo $: $x, $y?, *%_)

PHP

<lang php><? class Foo {

   function bar(int $x) {
   }

}

$method_names = get_class_methods('Foo'); foreach ($method_names as $name) {

   echo "$name\n";
   $method_info = new ReflectionMethod('Foo', $name);
   echo $method_info;

} ?></lang>

Output:

bar
Method [ <user> public method bar ] {
  @@ /Users/xuanluo/test.php 3 - 4

  - Parameters [1] {
    Parameter #0 [ <required> int $x ]
  }
}

Python

In Python, methods are properties that are functions, so methods are retrieved by getting properties and filtering, using (e.g.) dir() and a list comprehension. Python's inspect module offers a simple way to get a list of an object's methods, though it won't include wrapped, C-native methods (type 'method-wrapper', type 'wrapper_descriptor', or class 'wrapper_descriptor', depending on version). Dynamic methods can be listed by overriding __dir__ in the class.

<lang python>import inspect

1. Sample classes for inspection

class Super(object):

 def __init__(self, name):
   self.name = name
 
 def __str__(self):
   return "Super(%s)" % (self.name,)
 
 def doSup(self):
   return 'did super stuff'
 
 @classmethod
 def cls(cls):
   return 'cls method (in sup)'
 
 @classmethod
 def supCls(cls):
   return 'Super method'
 
 @staticmethod
 def supStatic():
   return 'static method'

class Other(object):

 def otherMethod(self):
   return 'other method'

class Sub(Other, Super):

 def __init__(self, name, *args):
   super(Sub, self).__init__(name);
   self.rest = args;
   self.methods = {}
 
 def __dir__(self):
   return list(set( \
       sum([dir(base) for base in type(self).__bases__], []) \
       + type(self).__dict__.keys() \
       + self.__dict__.keys() \
       + self.methods.keys() \
     ))
 
 def __getattr__(self, name):
   if name in self.methods:
     if callable(self.methods[name]) and self.methods[name].__code__.co_argcount > 0:
       if self.methods[name].__code__.co_varnames[0] == 'self':
         return self.methods[name].__get__(self, type(self))
       if self.methods[name].__code__.co_varnames[0] == 'cls':
         return self.methods[name].__get__(type(self), type)
     return self.methods[name]
   raise AttributeError("'%s' object has no attribute '%s'" % (type(self).__name__, name))
 
 def __str__(self):
   return "Sub(%s)" % self.name
 
 def doSub():
   return 'did sub stuff'
 
 @classmethod
 def cls(cls):
   return 'cls method (in Sub)'
 
 @classmethod
 def subCls(cls):
   return 'Sub method'
 
 @staticmethod
 def subStatic():
   return 'Sub method'

sup = Super('sup') sub = Sub('sub', 0, 'I', 'two') sub.methods['incr'] = lambda x: x+1 sub.methods['strs'] = lambda self, x: str(self) * x

1. names

[method for method in dir(sub) if callable(getattr(sub, method))]

1. instance methods

[method for method in dir(sub) if callable(getattr(sub, method)) and hasattr(getattr(sub, method), '__self__') and getattr(sub, method).__self__ == sub]

1. ['__dir__', '__getattr__', '__init__', '__str__', 'doSub', 'doSup', 'otherMethod', 'strs']
2. class methods

[method for method in dir(sub) if callable(getattr(sub, method)) and hasattr(getattr(sub, method), '__self__') and getattr(sub, method).__self__ == type(sub)]

1. ['__subclasshook__', 'cls', 'subCls', 'supCls']
2. static & free dynamic methods

[method for method in dir(sub) if callable(getattr(sub, method)) and type(getattr(sub, method)) == type(lambda:nil)]

1. ['incr', 'subStatic', 'supStatic']

1. names & values; doesn't include wrapped, C-native methods

inspect.getmembers(sub, predicate=inspect.ismethod)

1. names using inspect

map(lambda t: t[0], inspect.getmembers(sub, predicate=inspect.ismethod))

1. ['__dir__', '__getattr__', '__init__', '__str__', 'cls', 'doSub', 'doSup', 'otherMethod', 'strs', 'subCls', 'supCls']</lang>

Ring

<lang ring>

1. Project : Reflection/List methods
2. Date  : 2017/11/13
3. Author : Gal Zsolt (~ CalmoSoft ~)
4. Email  : <calmosoft@gmail.com>

o1 = new test aList = methods(o1) for x in aList

    cCode = "o1."+x+"()"
    eval(cCode)

next Class Test func f1

    see "hello from f1" + nl

func f2

    see "hello from f2" + nl

func f3

    see "hello from f3" + nl

func f4

    see "hello from f4" + nl

</lang> Output:

hello from f1
hello from f2
hello from f3
hello from f4

Ruby

Ruby has various properties that will return lists of methods:

• Object#methods
• Object#public_methods
• Object#private_methods
• Object#protected_methods
• Object#singleton_methods

Dynamic methods can be listed by overriding these methods. Ancestor methods can be filtered out by subtracting a list of methods from the ancestor.

<lang ruby># Sample classes for reflection class Super

 CLASSNAME = 'super'
 
 def initialize(name)
   @name = name
   def self.superOwn
     'super owned'
   end
 end
 
 def to_s
   "Super(#{@name})"
 end
 
 def doSup
   'did super stuff'
 end
 
 def self.superClassStuff
   'did super class stuff'
 end
 
 protected
 def protSup
   "Super's protected"
 end
 
 private
 def privSup
   "Super's private"
 end

end

module Other

 def otherStuff
   'did other stuff'
 end

end

class Sub < Super

 CLASSNAME = 'sub'
 attr_reader :dynamic
 
 include Other
 
 def initialize(name, *args)
   super(name)
   @rest = args;
   @dynamic = {}
   def self.subOwn
     'sub owned'
   end
 end
 
 def methods(regular=true)
   super + @dynamic.keys
 end
 
 def method_missing(name, *args, &block)
   return super unless @dynamic.member?(name)
   method = @dynamic[name]
   if method.arity > 0
     if method.parameters[0][1] == :self
       args.unshift(self)
     end
     if method.lambda?
       # procs (hence methods) set missing arguments to `nil`, lambdas don't, so extend args explicitly
       args += args + [nil] * [method.arity - args.length, 0].max
       # procs (hence methods) discard extra arguments, lambdas don't, so discard arguments explicitly (unless lambda is variadic)
       if method.parameters[-1][0] != :rest
         args = args[0,method.arity]
       end
     end
     method.call(*args)
   else
     method.call
   end
 end
 
 def public_methods(all=true)
   super + @dynamic.keys
 end
 
 def respond_to?(symbol, include_all=false)
   @dynamic.member?(symbol) || super
 end
 
 def to_s
   "Sub(#{@name})"
 end
 
 def doSub
   'did sub stuff'
 end
 
 def self.subClassStuff
   'did sub class stuff'
 end
 
 protected
 def protSub
   "Sub's protected"
 end
 
 private
 def privSub
   "Sub's private"
 end

end

sup = Super.new('sup') sub = Sub.new('sub', 0, 'I', 'two') sub.dynamic[:incr] = proc {|i| i+1}

p sub.public_methods(false)

1. => [:superOwn, :subOwn, :respond_to?, :method_missing, :to_s, :methods, :public_methods, :dynamic, :doSub, :incr]

p sub.methods - Object.methods

1. => [:superOwn, :subOwn, :method_missing, :dynamic, :doSub, :protSub, :otherStuff, :doSup, :protSup, :incr]

p sub.public_methods - Object.public_methods

1. => [:superOwn, :subOwn, :method_missing, :dynamic, :doSub, :otherStuff, :doSup, :incr]

p sub.methods - sup.methods

1. => [:subOwn, :method_missing, :dynamic, :doSub, :protSub, :otherStuff, :incr]

1. singleton/eigenclass methods

p sub.methods(false)

1. => [:superOwn, :subOwn, :incr]

p sub.singleton_methods

1. => [:superOwn, :subOwn]</lang>

Sidef

The super-method Object.methods() returns an Hash with method names as keys and LazyMethod objects as values. Each LazyMethod can be called with zero or more arguments, internally invoking the method on the object on which .methods was called. <lang ruby>class Example {

   method foo { }
   method bar(arg) { say "bar(#{arg})" }

}

var obj = Example() say obj.methods.keys.sort #=> ["bar", "call", "foo", "new"]

var meth = obj.methods.item(:bar) # `LazyMethod` representation for `obj.bar()` meth(123) # calls obj.bar()</lang>

Tcl

In TclOO, the info command can inspect the complete state of an object or a class, including private and methods:

<lang Tcl>% info object methods ::oo::class -all -private <cloned> create createWithNamespace destroy eval new unknown variable varname</lang>

For many more examples, see https://wiki.tcl.tk/40640 and the linked manuals for info class and info object. Plugins for tkcon and twDebugInspector (also found on the wiki) use this to create interactive object inspectors similar to Smalltalk's.

zkl

Every object has a "methods" method, which returns a list of method names [for that object]. If you want to get a method from a string, you can use reflection. <lang zkl>methods:=List.methods; methods.println(); List.method(methods[0]).println(); // == .Method(name) == .BaseClass(name) </lang>

Output:

L("create","createLong","copy","toString","toBool","toData","toDictionary","toList","isType","isInstanceOf","holds","append","write","writeln","read","readln","extend","insert","find","findBop",...)
Method(TSList.create)