The ATD Language¶

ATD core syntax reference¶

Introduction¶

ATD stands for Adjustable Type Definitions.

(* This is a sample ATD file *)

type profile = {
  id : string;
  email : string;
  ~email_validated : bool;
  name : string;
  ?real_name : string option;
  ~about_me : string list;
  ?gender : gender option;
  ?date_of_birth : date option;
}

type gender = [ Female | Male ]

type date = {
  year : int;
  month : int;
  day : int;
}

ATD is a language for defining data types across multiple programming languages and multiple data formats. That’s it.

We provide an OCaml library that provides a parser and a collection of tools that make it easy to write data validators and code generators based on ATD definitions.

Unlike big frameworks that provide everything in one monolithic package, we split the problem of data exchange into logical modules and ATD is one of them. In particular, we acknowledge that the following pieces have little in common and should be defined and implemented separately:

data type specifications
transport protocols
serialization formats

Ideally we want just one single language for defining data types and it should accomodate all programming languages and data formats. ATD can play this role, but its OCaml implementation makes it particularly easy to translate ATD specifications into other interface definition languages if needed.

It is however much harder to imagine that a single transport protocol and a single serialization format would ever become the only ones used. A reader from the future might wonder why we are even considering defining a transport protocol and a serialization format together. This has been a widespread practice at least until the beginning of the 21st century (ONC RPC, ICE, Thrift, etc.). For mysterious reasons, people somehow became convinced that calls to remote services should be made to mimic internal function calls, pretending that nothing really bad could happen on the way between the caller and the remote service. Well, I don’t let my 3-old daughter go to school by herself because the definition of the external world is precisely that it is unsafe.

Data input is by definition unsafe. A program whose internal data is corrupted should abort but a failed attempt to read external data should not cause a program to abort. On the contrary, a program should be very resistent to all forms of data corruption and attacks and provide the best diagnosis possible when problems with external data occur.

Because data exchange is critical and involves multiple partners, we depart from magic programming language-centric or company-centric approaches. We define ATD, a data type definition language designed for maximum expressivity, compatibility across languages and static type checking of programs using such data.

Scope¶

ATD offers a core syntax for type definitions, i.e. an idealized view of the structure of data. Types are mapped to each programming language or data format using language-specific conventions. Annotations can complete the type definitions in order to specify options for a particular language. Annotations are placed in angle brackets after the element they refer to:

type profile = {
  id : int <ocaml repr="int64">;
    (*
      An int here will map to an OCaml int64 instead of
      OCaml's default int type.
      Other languages than OCaml will use their default int type.
    *)

  age : int;
    (* No annotation here, the default int type will be used. *)
}

ATD supports:

the following atomic types: bool, int, float, string and unit;
built-in list and option types;
records aka structs with a syntax for optional fields with or without default;
tuples;
sum types aka variant types, algebraic data types or tagged unions;
parametrized types;
inheritance for both records and sum types;
abstract types;
arbitrary annotations.

ATD by design does not support:

function types, function signatures or method signatures;
a syntax to represent values;
a syntax for submodules.

Language overview¶

ATD was strongly inspired by the type system of ML and OCaml. Such a type system allows static type checking and type inference, properties which contribute to the safety and conciseness of the language.

Unlike mainstream languages like Java, C++, C# or Python to name a few, languages such as Haskell or OCaml offer sum types, also known as algebraic data types or variant types. These allow to specify that an object is of one kind or another without ever performing dynamic casts.

(* Example of a sum type in ATD. The vertical bar reads `or'. *)
type shape = [
    Square of float               (* argument: side length *)
  | Rectangle of (float * float)  (* argument: width and height *)
  | Circle of float               (* argument: radius *)
  | Dot                           (* no argument *)
]

A notable example of sum types is the predefined option type. An object of an option type contains either one value of a given type or nothing. We could define our own int_option type as follows:

type int_option = [ None | Some of int ]

ATD supports parametrized types also known as generics in Java or templates in C++. We could define our own generic option type as follows:

type 'a opt = [ None | Some of 'a ]
  (* 'a denotes a type parameter. *)

type opt_int = int opt
  (* equivalent to int_option defined in the previous example *)

type opt_string = string opt
  (* same with string instead of int *)

In practice we shall use the predefined option type. The option type is fundamentally different from nullable objects since the latter don’t allow values that would have type ‘a option option.

ATD also support product types. They come in two forms: tuples and records:

type tuple_example = (string * int)

type record_example = {
  name : string;
  age : int;
}

Although tuples in theory are not more expressive than records, they are much more concise and languages that support them natively usually do not require type definitions.

Finally, ATD supports multiple inheritance which is a simple mechanism for adding fields to records or variants to sum types:

type builtin_color = [
    Red | Green | Blue | Yellow
  | Purple | Black | White
]

type rgb = (float * float * float)
type cmyk = (float * float * float * float)

(* Inheritance of variants *)
type color = [
    inherit builtin_color
  | Rgb of rgb
  | Cmyk of cmyk
]

type basic_profile = {
  id : string;
  name : string;
}

(* Inheritance of record fields *)
type full_profile = {
  inherit basic_profile;
  date_of_birth : (int * int * int) option;
  street_address1 : string option;
  street_address2 : string option;
  city : string option;
  zip_code : string option;
  state : string option;
}

Editing and validating ATD files¶

The extension for ATD files is .atd. Editing ATD files is best achieved using an OCaml-friendly editor since the ATD syntax is vastly compatible with OCaml and uses a subset of OCaml’s keywords.

Emacs users can use caml-mode or tuareg-mode to edit ATD files. Adding the following line to the ~/.emacs file will automatically use tuareg-mode when opening a file with a .atd extension:

(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.atd\\'" . tuareg-mode))

The syntax of an ATD file can be checked with the program atdcat provided with the OCaml library atd. atdcat pretty-prints its input data, optionally after some transformations such as monomorphization or inheritance. Here is the output of atdcat -help:

Usage: _build/install/default/bin/atdcat FILE
  -o <path>
          write to this file instead of stdout
  -x
          make type expressions monomorphic
  -xk
          keep parametrized type definitions and imply -x.
          Default is to return only monomorphic type definitions
  -xd
          debug mode implying -x
  -i
          expand all 'inherit' statements
  -if
          expand 'inherit' statements in records
  -iv
          expand 'inherit' statements in sum types
  -jsonschema <root type name>
          translate the ATD file to JSON Schema.
  -jsonschema-no-additional-properties
          emit a JSON Schema that doesn't tolerate extra fields on JSON
          objects.
  -jsonschema-version { draft-2019-09 | draft-2020-12 }
          specify which version of the JSON Schema standard to target.
          Default: latest supported version, which is currently
          'draft-2020-12  '.
  -ml <name>
          output the ocaml code of the ATD abstract syntax tree
  -html-doc
          replace directly <doc html="..."> by (*html ... *)
          or replace <doc text="..."> by (*html ... *)
          where the contents are formatted as HTML
          using <p>, <code> and <pre>.
          This is suitable input for "caml2html -ext html:cat"
          which converts ATD files into HTML.
  -strip NAME1[,NAME2,...]
          remove all annotations of the form <NAME1 ...>,
          <NAME2 ...>, etc.
  -strip-all
          remove all annotations
  -version
          print the version of atd and exit
  -help  Display this list of options
  --help  Display this list of options

ATD language¶

This is a precise description of the syntax of the ATD language, not a tutorial.

Notations¶

Lexical and grammatical rules are expressed using a BNF-like syntax. Graphical terminal symbols use unquoted strings in typewriter font. Non-graphical characters use their official uppercase ASCII name such as LF for the newline character or SPACE for the space character. Non-terminal symbols use the regular font and link to their definition. Parentheses are used for grouping.

The following postfix operators are used to specify repeats:

x*	0, 1 or more occurrences of x
x?	0 or 1 occurrence of x
x+	1 or more occurrences of x

Lexical rules¶

ATD does not enforce a particular character encoding other than ASCII compatibility. Non-ASCII text and data found in annotations and in comments may contain arbitrary bytes in the non-ASCII range 128-255 without escaping. The UTF-8 encoding is however strongly recommended for all text. The use of hexadecimal or decimal escape sequences is recommended for binary data.

An ATD lexer splits its input into a stream of tokens, discarding whitespace and comments.

token ::=	keyword
\|	lident
\|	uident
\|	tident
\|	string
ignorable ::=	space	discarded
\|	comment
space ::=	SPACE \| TAB \| CR \| LF
blank ::=	SPACE \| TAB
comment ::=	`(` (comment \| string \| byte) `*)`
lident ::=	(lower \| `_` identchar) identchar*	lowercase identifier
uident ::=	upper identchar*	uppercase identifier
tident ::=	`'` lident	type parameter
lower ::=	`a`…``z``
upper ::=	`A`…``Z``
identchar ::=	upper \| lower \| digit \| `_` \| `'`
string ::=	`"` (substring \| `'`)* `"`	double-quoted string literal, used in annotations
\|	`'` (substring \| `"`)* `'`	single-quoted string literal, used in annotations
substring ::=	`\\`	single backslash
\|	`\"`	double quote
\|	`\'`	single quote
\|	`\x` hex hex	single byte in hexadecimal notation
\|	`\` digit digit digit	single byte in decimal notation
\|	`\n`	LF
\|	`\r`	CR
\|	`\t`	TAB
\|	`\b`	BS
\|	`\` CR? LF blank*	discarded
\|	not-backslash	any byte except `\` or `"` or `'`
digit ::=	`0` … `9`
hex ::=	`0` … `9`
\|	`a`… `f`
\|	`A` … `F`
keyword ::=	`(` \| `)` \| `[`	all keywords
\|	`]` \| `{` \| `}`
\|	`<` \| `>`
\|	`;` \| `,` \| `:` \| `*`
\|	`\|` \| `=` \| `?` \| `~`
\|	`type` \| `of` \| `inherit`

Grammar¶

module ::=	annot* typedef*	entry point
annot ::=	`<` lident annot-field* `>`	annotation
annot-field ::=	(lident (`=` string)?)
typedef ::=	`type` params? lident annot `=` expr	type definition
params ::=	tident	one parameter
\|	`(` tident (`,` tident)+ `)`	two or more parameters
expr ::=	expr-body annot*	type expression
\|	tident
expr-body ::=	args? lident
\|	`(` (cell (`` cell))? `)`	tuple type
\|	`{` ((field (`;` field)*) `;`?)? `}`	record type
\|	`[` (`\|`? variant (`\|` variant)*)? `]`	sum type
args ::=	expr	one argument
\|	`(` expr (`,` expr)+ `)`	two or more arguments
cell ::=	(annot+ `:`)? expr
field ::=	(`?` \| `~`)? lident `=` expr
\|	`inherit` expr
variant ::=	uident annot* `of` expr
\|	uident annot*
\|	`inherit` expr

Predefined type names¶

The following types are considered predefined and may not be redefined.

Type name	Intended use
`unit`	Type of just one value, useful with parametrized types
`bool`	Boolean
`int`	Integer
`float`	Floating-point number
`string`	Sequence of bytes or characters
`'a option`	Container of zero or one element of type ‘a. See also ‘a nullable.
`'a list`	Collection or sequence of elements of type ‘a
`'a nullable`	Extend type ‘a with an extra conventional value, typically called “null”. The operation is idempotent, i.e. ‘a nullable is equivalent to ‘a nullable nullable.
`'a shared`	Values of type ‘a for which sharing must be preserved
`'a wrap`	Values on which a custom, reversible transformation may be applied, as specified by language-specific annotations.
`abstract`	Unspecified type. By default, this is meant to accept any data that is syntactically valid, such as any JSON data that could be parsed successfully. With the help of ATD annotations, this can be used to express types not supported by the ATD language such as “either a boolean or a string”.

Shared values (deprecated)¶

ATD supports a special type x shared where x can be any monomorphic type expression. It allows notably to represent cyclic values and to enforce that cycles are preserved during transformations such as serialization.

(* Example of a simple graph type *)
type shared_node = node shared (* sharing point *)
type graph = shared_node list
type node = {
  label : string;
  neighbors : shared_node list;
}

Two shared values that are physically identical must remain physically identical after any translation from one data format to another.

Each occurrence of a shared type expression in the ATD source definition defines its own sharing point. Therefore the following attempt at defining a graph type will not preserve cycles because two sharing points are defined:

(* Incorrect definition of a graph type *)
type node = {
  label : string;
  neighbors : node shared (* sharing point 1 *) list;
}

(* Second occurrence of "shared", won't preserve cycles! *)
type graph = node shared (* sharing point 2 *) list

There is actually a way of having multiple shared type expressions using the same sharing point but this feature is designed for code generators and should not be used in handwritten ATD definitions. The technique consists in providing an annotation of the form <share id=x> where x is any string identifying the sharing point. The graph example can be rewritten correctly as:

type node = {
  label : string;
  neighbors : node shared <share id="1"> list;
}

type graph = node shared <share id="1"> list

Interoperability with other tools¶

JSON Schema¶

ATD type definitions can be translated to JSON Schema with atdcat. The user must specify the main type on the command line since ATD doesn’t have a notion of main type or root type. This can be useful for target languages that are not yet supported by ATD or for educational purposes.

Example¶

Input: ATD file message.atd:

type msg = {
  subject: string;
  ?body: string option;
  ~attachments: attachment list;
}

type attachment = [
  | Image of string
  | Virus
]

Conversion to JSON Schema:

$ atdcat -jsonschema msg message.atd -o message.schema.json

Output: JSON Schema file message.schema.json:

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "description": "Translated by atdcat from 'message.atd'",
  "type": "object",
  "required": [ "subject" ],
  "properties": {
    "subject": { "type": "string" },
    "body": { "type": "string" },
    "attachments": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": { "$ref": "#/definitions/attachment" }
    }
  },
  "definitions": {
    "attachment": {
      "oneOf": [
        {
          "type": "array",
          "minItems": 2,
          "items": false,
          "prefixItems": [ { "const": "Image" }, { "type": "string" } ]
        },
        { "const": "Virus" }
      ]
    }
  }
}

The jsonschema tool (Python implementation) can validate JSON data using the JSON Schema file that we generated. For example, passing an empty object {} correctly results in an error telling us the subject field is missing:

$ jsonschema message.json -i <(echo '{}')
{}: 'subject' is a required property

With valid JSON input such as {"subject": "hello", "attachments": ["Virus"]}, the command exits successfully and silently:

$ jsonschema message.json -i <(echo '{"subject": "hello", "attachments": ["Virus"]}')