dreamchecker

DreamChecker

DreamChecker is a robust whole-program static analysis and type checking engine for DreamMaker, the scripting language of the BYOND game engine.

Running DreamChecker

DreamChecker can be obtained with cargo build -p dreamchecker or from the releases page.

DreamChecker should be run from within the DM project directory. It will automatically detect the .dme file, parse it, and issue diagnostics. DreamChecker will exit with a non-zero status code if it discovers any diagnostics, making it suitable for use in continuous integration environments.

Diagnostics

In addition to the simple inline diagnostics discovered by the parsing suite, DreamCheckers's whole-program analysis can find problems such as:

• Unknown set setting names.
• Undefined types on unused variables.
• Keyword arguments being passed to procs which do not accept them.
• Calling procs with non-keyword arguments following keyword arguments.
• Proc overrides which are missing keyword arguments that their parents are called with.
• Declaring vars with /list in unusual positions, e.g. var/atom/list/movable/L.
• Use of src in global /procs where it is guaranteed to be null.
• Calling the parent proc ..() when no such parent exists.
• Accesses like L[1].foo and foo().bar wherein . acts like : instead.
  • List accesses perform lookups according to the type appended to /list, e.g. with var/list/obj/L, the type of L[1] will be /obj and a lookup of L[1].name will not generate a warning.
  • Proc calls will obey the return type annotation if present.

Configuration

DreamChecker can be run with the -c switch to specify a TOML configuration file. For the full list of options see the configuration docs.

Extensions

DreamChecker also adds additional typing features to the language through a series of extensions, described below. Because DreamMaker does not recognize these extensions, it is recommended that you use the preprocessor flag SPACEMAN_DMM to determine whether they should be enabled:

#ifdef SPACEMAN_DMM
	#define RETURN_TYPE(X) set SpacemanDMM_return_type = X
	#define SHOULD_CALL_PARENT(X) set SpacemanDMM_should_call_parent = X
	#define UNLINT(X) SpacemanDMM_unlint(X)
	#define SHOULD_NOT_OVERRIDE(X) set SpacemanDMM_should_not_override = X
	#define SHOULD_NOT_SLEEP(X) set SpacemanDMM_should_not_sleep = X
	#define SHOULD_BE_PURE(X) set SpacemanDMM_should_be_pure = X
	#define PRIVATE_PROC(X) set SpacemanDMM_private_proc = X
	#define PROTECTED_PROC(X) set SpacemanDMM_protected_proc = X
	#define VAR_FINAL var/SpacemanDMM_final
	#define VAR_PRIVATE var/SpacemanDMM_private
	#define VAR_PROTECTED var/SpacemanDMM_protected
#else
	#define RETURN_TYPE(X)
	#define SHOULD_CALL_PARENT(X)
	#define UNLINT(X) X
	#define SHOULD_NOT_OVERRIDE(X)
	#define SHOULD_NOT_SLEEP(X)
	#define SHOULD_BE_PURE(X)
	#define PRIVATE_PROC(X)
	#define PROTECTED_PROC(X)
	#define VAR_FINAL var
	#define VAR_PRIVATE var
	#define VAR_PROTECTED var
#endif

Return type

Use set SpacemanDMM_return_type = expression to set a return type expression for a proc. The return type can take the forms:

• /typepath - a raw typepath. The return type of the proc is the type named.
• param - a typepath given as a parameter, for procs which return an instance of the passed-in type.
• param.type - the static type of a passed-in parameter, for procs which return their input or otherwise another value of the same type.
• param[_].type - the static type of a passed-in parameter, with one level of /list stripped, for procs which select one item from a list. The [_] may be repeated to strip more levels of /list.

Should call parent

Use set SpacemanDMM_should_call_parent = 1 to enable a diagnostic on children of the proc it is set on which do not contain any ..() parent calls. This can help with finding situations where a signal or other important handling in the parent proc is being skipped. Child procs may set this setting to 0 instead to override the check.

Should not override

Use set SpacemanDMM_should_not_override = 1 to raise a warning for any child procs that override this one, regardless of if it calls parent or not. This functions in a similar way to the final keyword in some languages.

This cannot be disabled by child overrides.

Final variables

Use the above definition of VAR_FINAL to declare vars as SpacemanDMM_final, var/SpacemanDMM_final/foo such that overriding their value isn't permitted by types that inherit it.

/a/type
	VAR_FINAL/foo = somevalue

Private / Protected procs

Use set SpacemanDMM_private_proc = 1 and set SpacemanDMM_protected_proc = 1 to set procs as private and protected respectively.

• Private procs can only be called by things of exactly the same type
• Protected procs can only be call by things of the same type or subtypes

Additionally, Private procs cannot be overridden.

Private / Protected vars

Use the above definitions of VAR_PRIVATE and VAR_PROTECTED to declare vars as SpacemanDMM_private/SpacemanDMM_protected. These function the same way as the proc versions.

Should not sleep

Use set SpacemanDMM_should_not_sleep = 1 to raise a warning if the proc or one of the sub-procs it calls uses a blocking call, such as sleep() or input() without using set waitfor = 0

This cannot be disabled by child overrides.

Should be pure

Use set SpacemanDMM_should_be_pure = 1 to ensure a proc is 'pure', such that it does not make any changes outside itself or output. This also checks to make sure anything using this proc doesn't invoke it without making use of the return value.

This cannot be disabled by child overrides.