Packages

•  package root

  Definition Classes

  root

•  package scala

  Definition Classes

  root

•  package reflect

  Definition Classes

  scala

•  package api

  EXPERIMENTAL

  EXPERIMENTAL

  The Scala Reflection API (located in scala-reflect.jar).

  In Scala 2.10.0, the Scala Reflection API and its implementation have an "experimental" status. This means that the API and the docs are not complete and can be changed in binary- and source-incompatible manner in 2.10.1. This also means that the implementation has some known issues.

  The following types are the backbone of the Scala Reflection API, and serve as a good starting point for information about Scala Reflection:

  • scala.reflect.api.Symbols
  • scala.reflect.api.Types
  • scala.reflect.api.Mirrors
  • scala.reflect.api.Universe

  For more information about Scala Reflection, see the Reflection Guide

  Definition Classes

  reflect

•  trait Internals extends AnyRef

  EXPERIMENTAL

  EXPERIMENTAL

  This trait assembles APIs occasionally necessary for performing low-level operations on reflection artifacts. See Internals#InternalApi for more information about nature, usefulness and compatibility guarantees of these APIs.

  Definition Classes

  api

•  trait InternalApi extends AnyRef

  Reflection API exhibits a tension inherent to experimental things: on the one hand we want it to grow into a beautiful and robust API, but on the other hand we have to deal with immaturity of underlying mechanisms by providing not very pretty solutions to enable important use cases.

  Reflection API exhibits a tension inherent to experimental things: on the one hand we want it to grow into a beautiful and robust API, but on the other hand we have to deal with immaturity of underlying mechanisms by providing not very pretty solutions to enable important use cases.

  In Scala 2.10, which was our first stab at reflection API, we didn't have a systematic approach to dealing with this tension, sometimes exposing too much of internals (e.g. Symbol.deSkolemize) and sometimes exposing too little (e.g. there's still no facility to change owners, to do typing transformations, etc). This resulted in certain confusion with some internal APIs living among public ones, scaring the newcomers, and some internal APIs only available via casting, which requires intimate knowledge of the compiler and breaks compatibility guarantees.

  This led to creation of the internal API module for the reflection API, which provides advanced APIs necessary for macros that push boundaries of the state of the art, clearly demarcating them from the more or less straightforward rest and providing compatibility guarantees on par with the rest of the reflection API (full compatibility within minor releases, best effort towards backward compatibility within major releases, clear replacement path in case of rare incompatible changes in major releases).

  The internal module itself (the value that implements InternalApi) isn't defined here, in scala.reflect.api.Universe, but is provided on per-implementation basis. Runtime API endpoint (scala.reflect.runtime.universe) provides universe.compat: InternalApi, whereas compile-time API endpoints (instances of scala.reflect.macros.Context) provide c.compat: ContextInternalApi, which extends InternalApi with additional universe-specific and context-specific functionality.

  Definition Classes

  Internals

• DecoratorApi
• Decorators

scala.reflect.api.Internals.InternalApi

DecoratorApi