Introspection

Small helpers for inspecting objects at runtime: identity, a debug representation, and a list of keys.

#include "abscom/abs.h"

Function	Description
var id(var obj)	The object's memory address as an int.
var repr(var obj)	A debug string: <AbsObj Type=<n> Addr=<p>>.
var dir(var obj)	Dictionary keys, or list indices, as a list (empty for everything else).

var d = Dict();
dset(d, "name", v("abscom"));
dset(d, "level", v(9));

print(dir(d));        /* [name, level] */
print(id(d));         /* e.g. 696235936 */
print(repr(d));       /* <AbsObj Type=5 Addr=00000205...> */

Notes:

• id is the object pointer cast to an int — stable while the object lives, unique per live object.
• repr round-trips the AbsType value and the address; combine it with type() for a readable name.
• dir on a list yields 0, 1, 2, ...; on a dict it yields the keys (insertion order is not guaranteed).
• Each id()/repr()/dir() call returns a fresh object, so compare values (e.g. id(a)->val.i == id(b)->val.i), not pointers.

Back to README.