Erlang (programming language)/Tutorials/Folding: Difference between revisions
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==Fold== | ==Fold== | ||
Fold is also known as Reduce in some circles. | |||
Fold is a powerful tool, when you get to know it. lists:foldr(F,S,L) takes three arguments: | Fold is a powerful tool, when you get to know it. lists:foldr(F,S,L) takes three arguments: | ||
F is some folding function, S is some starting value, and L is some List that needs folding. Let us do some simple folding. The following fold calculates the lenght of a list. Here the current list item, _C is ignored, and the accumulator, A, counts the number of elements in the list. | F is some folding function, S is some starting value, and L is some List that needs folding. Let us do some simple folding. The following fold calculates the lenght of a list. Here the current list item, _C is ignored, and the accumulator, A, counts the number of elements in the list. | ||
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{1,[3,5,7,-16]} | {1,[3,5,7,-16]} | ||
In example 3, we used a tuple to remember the previous value so we could use it for next difference. Fold is | In example 3, we used a tuple to remember the previous value, P, so we could use it for next difference. The current value, C, and the accumulator, A, is where we build the output. | ||
a function with a limited attention span. We might like to delete the last item because is has a non-intuitive relation to the source list. | In example 3, the output is the same length as the input, not much of a reduction. | ||
Fold is a universal function, and can theoretically duplicate any program with a list as input. | |||
Fold is | |||
a function with a limited attention span. We might like to delete the last item, -16, because is has a non-intuitive relation to the source list. | |||
Calculating a continuted calculation with fold seems natural | Calculating a continuted calculation with fold seems natural | ||
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The opposite of fold it the unfold. | The opposite of fold it the unfold. | ||
Unfold takes a seed and builds a list or larger structure, perhaps an infinite stream. | Unfold takes a seed and builds a list or larger structure, perhaps an infinite stream. | ||
Argument list of unfold. | |||
Seed: The starting value or current state | |||
Predicate: fun that is the equivalent of a "While loop test function" | |||
Transform: fun that creates output from current state | |||
Incrementor: fun that moves to next state | |||
Acc: Accumulator is the place to build output | |||
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Revision as of 20:32, 2 August 2009
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Fun with folding
Fold
Fold is also known as Reduce in some circles. Fold is a powerful tool, when you get to know it. lists:foldr(F,S,L) takes three arguments: F is some folding function, S is some starting value, and L is some List that needs folding. Let us do some simple folding. The following fold calculates the lenght of a list. Here the current list item, _C is ignored, and the accumulator, A, counts the number of elements in the list.
1> lists:foldr( fun(_C,A)->A+1 end, 0, [1,2,3]). 3
We could reverse a list with fold if we like.
2> lists:foldr(fun(C,A)->A++[C] end, [], [a,b,c]). [c,b,a]
Or to get fancy we could try a finite difference.
3> lists:foldr( fun(C,{P,A})->{C,[P-C]++A} end, {0,[]}, [1,4,9,16]).
{1,[3,5,7,-16]}
In example 3, we used a tuple to remember the previous value, P, so we could use it for next difference. The current value, C, and the accumulator, A, is where we build the output. In example 3, the output is the same length as the input, not much of a reduction. Fold is a universal function, and can theoretically duplicate any program with a list as input. Fold is a function with a limited attention span. We might like to delete the last item, -16, because is has a non-intuitive relation to the source list.
Calculating a continuted calculation with fold seems natural
lists:foldr(fun(C,A)->(A+1)/C end, 1, lists:seq(1,1000)). 1.718281828459045
The answer appears to be the value e-1, which we can verify with:
math:exp(1) - 1. 1.718281828459045
Unfold
The opposite of fold it the unfold. Unfold takes a seed and builds a list or larger structure, perhaps an infinite stream.
Argument list of unfold. Seed: The starting value or current state Predicate: fun that is the equivalent of a "While loop test function" Transform: fun that creates output from current state Incrementor: fun that moves to next state Acc: Accumulator is the place to build output
%============================================================ -module(fun_utils). -compile(export_all). % erlang unfold code thanks to Debasish Ghosh unfold(Seed, Predicate, Transformer) when is_integer(Seed) -> unfold(Seed, Predicate, Transformer, 1). unfold(Seed, Predicate, Transformer, Incrementor) -> unfold(Seed, Predicate, Transformer, Incrementor, []). unfold(Seed, Predicate, Transformer, Incrementor, Acc) -> case Predicate(Seed) of true -> unfold(Incrementor(Seed), Predicate, Transformer, Incrementor, [Transformer(Seed)|Acc]); false -> lists:reverse(Acc) end. % This front-end makes zip behave like the native lists:zip(L1,L2) % in the popular erlang lib. zip(L1,L2) -> lists:map(fun(L)->list_to_tuple(L) end, zip([L1,L2])). % a pure 100% list of lists based zip zip(Ls) -> unfold(Ls, fun(X) -> length(hd(X)) > 0 end, fun(Lists) -> [hd(List) || List <- Lists] end, fun(Lists) -> [List -- [hd(List)] || List <- Lists] end). %===================================================================
% Run it % 24> c(fun_utils). % ok % 25> fun_utils:zip([1,2,3],[4,5,6]). % [{1,4},{2,5},{3,6}]