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1 point by map 5845 days ago | link | parent | on: Can't see the bug in my short routine

For the record, here's an improved version translated from someone else's CL code:

  (def collect-dups (lst)
    (let accum nil
      (each e lst
        (if (is caar.accum e)
          (push e car.accum)
          (push list.e accum)))
      (rev (keep cdr accum))))

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3 points by map 5845 days ago | link | parent | on: Can't see the bug in my short routine

As you hinted, the output of your example surprised me:

  (1)(1 1)
And your suggestion fixed my routine. But I don't understand why.

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5 points by eds 5845 days ago | link

It's because 'quote doesn't necessarily create a new list every time (at least not in function definitions). If you do

  (def foo ()
    '(a b c))
(foo) will return the same list every time, so if you modify the list in or before your next call, you'll get the modified instead of the original value.

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2 points by map 5845 days ago | link

That helps. Thanks.

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3 points by map 5847 days ago | link | parent | on: Documentation: index to (almost) all of Arc

One of the examples for rreduce should be

  (rreduce / '(1 2 3))
instead of

  (reduce / '(1 2 3))

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2 points by map 5864 days ago | link | parent | on: Regular expressions

I'm for adding regular expressions and other string-handling functions. String manipulation is one of the most common tasks in my programs. Are mzscheme's regular expressions good enough?

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2 points by map 5864 days ago | link

Can this tiny Ruby program that I recently wrote for my own use be easily converted to Arc? If not, what additions to the language would make it easy to convert this program? (Please keep the string containing the dates unchanged; don't pamper the language.)

  require 'date'

  "
  2008.2.18
  2008--3--21
    2008/5/26
  2008_7_4

  ".scan( /\S+/ ){|date_str|
    date_ary = date_str.split(/\D+/).map{|s| s.to_i}
    the_date = Date.new( *date_ary )
    diff = the_date - Date.today
    if (0..7).include?( diff )
      puts "***"
      puts "*****"
      puts "*******"
      puts "\a  #{ the_date } is a holiday!"
      puts "*******"
      puts "*****"
      puts "***"
    end
  }

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4 points by nex3 5864 days ago | link

This is largely a library issue - Arc could certainly do with better support for string ops, regexen, and especially datetime manipulation. But here's what I came up with (note that date-days is pretty inaccurate most of the time):

  (def compact (seq) (keep ~empty seq))

  (def date-days (date)
    (+ (* 365 (date 'year))
       (* 30  (date 'month))
       (date 'day)))

  (def date- (d1 d2)
    (- (date-days d1) (date-days d2)))

  (def format-date (date)
    (string (pad (date 'year) 4 #\0) "-"
            (pad (date 'month) 2 #\0) "-"
            (pad (date 'day) 2 #\0)))

  (= str "
  2008.2.18
  2008--3--21
    2008/5/26
  2008_7_4
  
  ")

  (each date (map (fn (date)
                    (map [coerce _ 'int]
                         (compact:ssplit date [no (<= #\0 _ #\9)])))
                  (compact:ssplit str))
    (let the-date (obj year (date 0) month (date 1) day (date 2))
      (when (<= 0 (date- the-date (datetbl (seconds))) 7)
        (prn "***")
        (prn "*****")
        (prn "*******")
        (prn "\a  " (format-date the-date) " is a holiday!")
        (prn "*******")
        (prn "*****")
        (prn "***"))))

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4 points by map 5863 days ago | link

Good work.

I think you've highlighted at least one gap in Arc's arsenal. Using Arc2:

  arc> (ssplit " foo bar ")
  Error: "reference to undefined identifier: _ssplit"
You needed to use ssplit, but Arc doesn't have it.

I don't think the importance of string ops should be underestimated. Strings ops are just as essential as numerical ops. A language that cannot effortlessly manipulate strings is a low-level language in my book. If people are supposed to be testing Arc by using it instead of the languages they were using, Arc needs string ops. Can't they be easily lifted from mzscheme?

Remember the thread on implementing Eliza in Lisp and Ruby? No one posted an Arc version.

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3 points by nex3 5863 days ago | link

Oh, sorry, I should have specified: I used Anarki-specific stuff in several places. Mostly the date-manipulation, but also ssplit (I actually hadn't realized that wasn't in arc2. Yikes). Using Anarki, it should work, though.

I totally agree that strings ops are important. If I recall, PG has also said something to this effect, so I wouldn't be surprised if more of them crop up in the next few releases.

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3 points by bogomipz 5864 days ago | link

So ruby has a syntax for regular expressions, such as /\D+/. What I've always wondered is, does this have any advantage at all?

I mean, the actual regex operations are done by methods on the string class, which like nex3 mentioned is at the library level.

Is there any reason

  a_string.split(/\D+/)
is better than

  a_string.split("\D+")
Please do enlighten me.

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5 points by nex3 5864 days ago | link

A distinction between regexen and strings is actually very handy. I've done a fair bit of coding in Ruby, where this distinction is present, and a fair bit in Emacs Lisp, where it's not.

There are really two places where it's really important. First, if regexen are strings, then you have to double-escape everything. /\.foo/ becomes "\\.foo". /"([^"]|\\"|\\\\)+"/ becomes "\"([^\"]|\\\\"|\\\\\\\\)+\"". Which is preferable?

Second, it's very often useful to treat strings as auto-escaped regexps. For instance,

  a_string.split("\D+")
is actually valid Ruby. It's equivalent to

  a_string.split("D+")
because D isn't an escape char, which will split the string on the literal string "D+". For example

  "BAD++".split("D+") #=> ["BA", "+"]
Now, I'm not convinced that regexen are necessary for nearly as many string operations as they're typically used for. But I think no matter how powerful a standard string library a language has, they'll still be useful sometimes, and then it's a great boon to have literal syntax for them.

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3 points by bogomipz 5863 days ago | link

Ok, so what it comes down to, is that you don't want escapes to be processed. Wouldn't providing a non-escapable string be far more general, then?

Since '\D+' clashes with quote, maybe /\D+/ is a good choice for the non-escapable string syntax. Only problem is that using it in other places might trigger some reactions as the slashes make everybody think of it as "regex syntax".

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3 points by nex3 5863 days ago | link

Escaping isn't the only thing. Duck typing is also a good reason to differentiate regular expressions and strings. foo.gsub("()", "nil") is distinct from foo.gsub(/()/, "nil"), and both are useful enough to make both usable. There are lots of similar issues - for instance, it would be very useful to make (/foo/ str) return some sort of match data, but that wouldn't be possible if regexps and strings were the same type.

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4 points by bogomipz 5862 days ago | link

Now we're getting somewhere :) For this argument to really convince me, though, Arc needs better support for user defined types. It should be possible to write special cases of existing functions without touching the core definition. Some core functions use case forms or similar to treat data types differently. Extending those is not really supported. PG has said a couple of times;

"We believe Lisp should let you define new types that are treated just like the built-in types-- just as it lets you define new functions that are treated just like the built-in functions."

Using annotate and rep doesn't feel "just like built-in types" quite yet.

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2 points by almkglor 5862 days ago | link

Try 'redef on nex3's arc-wiki.git. You might also be interested in my settable-fn.arc and nex3's take on it (settable-fn2.arc).

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3 points by earthboundkid 5863 days ago | link

You could always do it the Python way: r"\D+" => '\\D+'

There's also u"" for Unicode strings (in Python <3.0) and b"" for byte strings (in Python >2.6).

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2 points by map 5863 days ago | link

If the "x" modifier is used, whitespace and comments in the regex are ignored.

  re =
  %r{
      # year
      (\d {4})
      # separator is one or more non-digits
      \D+
      # month
      (\d\d)
      # separator is one or more non-digits
      \D+
      # day
      (\d\d)
  }x

  p "the 1st date, 1984-08-08, was ignored".match(re).captures

  --->["1984", "08", "08"]

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Some string-handling functions. I couldn't locate a way to find a string in another string.

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1 point by map 5865 days ago | link | parent | on: Arc challenge: 8 Queens Problem

  arc> (help prall)
  Error: "reference to undefined identifier: _help"

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1 point by nex3 5865 days ago | link

help is a macro defined on Anarki.

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2 points by map 5865 days ago | link | parent | on: Arc challenge: 8 Queens Problem

  (def valid? (stack)
    (let i 0
      (if (or (pos stack.0 cdr.stack)
              (some (fn(x)(++ i)(is i (abs:- x stack.0))) cdr.stack))
        nil
        t)))

  (def queens (stack n)
    (if (is n 8)
      (and (prall rev.stack "[ ") (prn " ]"))
      (for rank 1 8
        (push rank stack)
        (if (valid? stack)
            (queens stack (+ n 1)))
        (pop stack))))

  (queens '() 0)

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2 points by almkglor 5865 days ago | link

  (def valid? (stack)
    (let i 0
      (if (or (pos stack.0 cdr.stack)
              (some [do (++ i) (is i (abs:- _ stack.0))] cdr.stack))
        nil
        t)))

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1 point by map 5864 days ago | link

  (def valid? (stack)
    (let i 0
      (if (or (pos stack.0 cdr.stack)
              (some [is ++.i (abs:- stack.0 _)] cdr.stack))
        nil
        t)))

  (def queens (stack n)
    (if (is n 8)
      (do (prall rev.stack "[ ") (prn " ]"))
      (for rank 1 8
        (push rank stack)
        (if (valid? stack)
            (queens stack (+ n 1)))
        (pop stack))))

  (queens '() 0)

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1 point by lojic 5865 days ago | link

Nice job - thx.

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1 point by map 5865 days ago | link | parent | on: Arc challenge: 8 Queens Problem

  (def rot ((x . y)) (join y `(,x)))


  (def nqueens (n)
    (withs (r (range 1 n) o (keep odd r) e (keep even r) m (mod n 12))
      (if (pos m '(3 9)) (= m -1))
      (join (if (is m -1) (rot e) e)
        (case m
          2 (join '(3 1) (cut o 3 -1) '(5))
          8 (flat:map rev (pair o))
          -1 (rot:rot o)
          o))))

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2 points by cchooper 5865 days ago | link

Instead of (= m -1) you could use (nil! m) and then test it with (no m). That's 2 fewer atoms!

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2 points by kens1 5865 days ago | link

Is nil! an Anarki thing? (wipe m) is the Arc expression to set m to nil. (And (assert m) sets m to t. Assert tops my list of confusingly named functions.)

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2 points by nex3 5865 days ago | link

No, nil! was just the old name for wipe.

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1 point by map 5865 days ago | link

Good idea. But "(nil! m)" gives me an error. After making the other changes you suggested, it occurred to me to combine the two "if" clauses into one.

  (def rot ((x . y)) (join y `(,x)))
  (def nqueens (n)
    (withs (r (range 1 n) o (keep odd r) e (keep even r) m (mod n 12))
      (join (if (pos m '(3 9))(or wipe.m rot.e) e)
        (case m
          2 (flat:list 3 1 (cut o 3 -1) 5)
          8 (flat:map rev pair.o)
          nil (rot:rot o)
          o))))

Edit: used "wipe" as suggested below.

Edit: using "flat:list" for case 2.

Edit: replaced (wipe m) with wipe.m, etc.

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1 point by map 5865 days ago | link | parent | on: Arc challenge: 8 Queens Problem

The wikipedia algorithm only generates one solution.

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1 point by lojic 5865 days ago | link

The challenge is to produce all 92 solutions as the Ruby code does in the OP. I linked to wikipedia for the description of the problem, not the algorithm.

I also showed the ellided output for clarification.

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1 point by cchooper 5865 days ago | link

I was doing the n queens challenge on Wikipedia because someone had already posted a solution to your challenge.

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3 points by map 5866 days ago | link | parent | on: Arc challenge: 8 Queens Problem

To simulate

  (join 1 '(2 3 4) 5 '(6 7 8) 9)
one could do

  (flat:list 1 '(2 3 4) 5 '(6 7 8) 9)
Of course, you're out of luck if you have nested lists.

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