Combing Out Global DeepSeq

Control.DeepSeq and related generics/TH modules are a great tool for debugging space leaks, and also a great temptation for evading them. A common strategy is to start at a high level in leaking code (in the sense of high in the parse tree), finding a place where a forcing function will squash your leaks, and then working the forcer further down until the offending code has been discovered. For didactic purposes, let's suppose your forcing function is deepseq. Sometimes more than one site will have leaky code, so as the deepseq is moved down, it may have to be duplicated and branch out as well.

It would be nice to automate this process of refining the locations of deepseq. Something simple that should work is a binary partitioning of descendant expressions, into those which propagate the deepseq, and those which do not. Auto-recompilation and auto-profile-analysis can determine whether the change maintains leak-free behaviour, guiding the search for the smallest expressions which need forcing. The developer may prefer to force at a higher level, in case this minimal set is highly [ramified/-?-] (high cardinality), but mostly we're interested in those expressions deepest in the parse tree that, forced, suffice to staunch the leak.

The Heaply page has more info on a nascent implementation.

Andrew Seniuk 2014
rasfar@gmail.com