I am trying to find the length of a list using Map/Foldl/Foldr
(define (suml lst)
(length lst))
Input : (suml '(1 2 3))
Output : 3
Input : (suml '(((((2)))) (1)))
Output: 2
How can I modify it work with foldl/map/foldr?
As has been mentioned in the comments, map takes a function and applies it elementwise. A function that uses map will create a list of the same length. To create a length function, we are condensing a list to a single value. This is the purpose of fold.
(define (length l)
(foldr (lambda (_ cur-length) (+ 1 cur-length)) 0 l))
When you think about foldr, you should think about it just replacing cons in a list with the function and the empty list with the base case argument. Take the following example:
'(1 2 3 4)
= (cons 1 (cons 2 (cons 3 (cons 4 '()))))
(foldr f base '(1 2 3 4))
= (f 1 (f 2 (f 3 (f 4 base))))
It turns out, foldl also works in this case because we're just adding one for every element, it doesn't matter if we go left to right or right to left.
(define (length l)
(foldl (lambda (_ cur-length) (+ 1 cur-length)) 0 l))
Related
So I have this line of code:
(foldl cons '() '(1 2 3 4))
And the output I get when I run it is this:
'(4 3 2 1)
Can you please explain to me why I don’t get '(1 2 3 4) instead?
I read the documentation but I am still a bit confused about how foldl works. Also if I wanted to define foldl how would I specify in Racket that the function can take a variable amount of lists as arguments?
Thanks!
Yes. By the definition of left fold, the combining function is called with the first element of the list and the accumulated result so far, and the result of that call is passed (as the new, updated accumulated result so far) to the recursive invocation of foldl with the same combining function and the rest of the list:
(foldl cons '() '(1 2 3))
=
(foldl cons (cons 1 '()) '(2 3))
=
(foldl cons (cons 2 (cons 1 '())) '(3))
=
(foldl cons (cons 3 (cons 2 (cons 1 '()))) '())
=
(cons 3 (cons 2 (cons 1 '())))
And when the list is empty, the accumulated result so far is returned as the final result.
To your second question, variadic functions in Scheme are specified with the dot . in the argument list, like so:
(define (fold-left f acc . lists)
(if (null? (first lists)) ;; assume all have same length
acc
(apply fold-left ;; recursive call
f
(apply f (append (map first lists) ;; combine first elts
(list acc))) ;; with result so far
(map rest lists)))) ;; the rests of lists
Indeed,
(fold-left (lambda (a b result)
(* result (- a b)))
1
'(1 2 3)
'(4 5 6))
returns -27.
I was trying to make a recursive function to split a list into two lists according the number of elements one wants.
Ex:
(split 3 '(1 3 5 7 9)) ((1 3 5) (7 9))
(split 7 '(1 3 5 7 9)) ((1 3 5 7 9) NIL)
(split 0 '(1 3 5 7 9)) (NIL (1 3 5 7 9))
My code is like this:
(defun split (e L)
(cond ((eql e 0) '(() L))
((> e 0) (cons (car L) (car (split (- e 1) (cdr L))))))))
I don't find a way to join the first list elements and return the second list.
Tail recursive solution
(defun split (n l &optional (acc-l '()))
(cond ((null l) (list (reverse acc-l) ()))
((>= 0 n) (list (reverse acc-l) l))
(t (split (1- n) (cdr l) (cons (car l) acc-l)))))
Improved version
(in this version, it is ensured that acc-l is at the beginning '()):
(defun split (n l)
(labels ((inner-split (n l &optional (acc-l '()))
(cond ((null l) (list (reverse acc-l) ()))
((= 0 n) (list (reverse acc-l) l))
(t (inner-split (1- n) (cdr l) (cons (car l) acc-l))))))
(inner-split n l)))
Test it:
(split 3 '(1 2 3 4 5 6 7))
;; returns: ((1 2 3) (4 5 6 7))
(split 0 '(1 2 3 4 5 6 7))
;; returns: (NIL (1 2 3 4 5 6 7))
(split 7 '(1 2 3 4 5 6 7))
;; returns ((1 2 3 4 5 6 7) NIL)
(split 9 '(1 2 3 4 5 6 7))
;; returns ((1 2 3 4 5 6 7) NIL)
(split -3 '(1 2 3 4 5 6 7))
;; returns (NIL (1 2 3 4 5 6 7))
In the improved version, the recursive function is placed one level deeper (kind of encapsulation) by using labels (kind of let which allows definition of local functions but in a way that they are allowed to call themselves - so it allows recursive local functions).
How I came to the solution:
Somehow it is clear, that the first list in the result must result from consing one element after another from the beginning of l in successive order. However, consing adds an element to an existing list at its beginning and not its end.
So, successively consing the car of the list will lead to a reversed order.
Thus, it is clear that in the last step, when the first list is returned, it hast to be reversed. The second list is simply (cdr l) of the last step so can be added to the result in the last step, when the result is returned.
So I thought, it is good to accumulate the first list into (acc-l) - the accumulator is mostly the last element in the argument list of tail-recursive functions, the components of the first list. I called it acc-l - accumulator-list.
When writing a recursive function, one begins the cond part with the trivial cases. If the inputs are a number and a list, the most trivial cases - and the last steps of the recursion, are the cases, when
the list is empty (equal l '()) ---> (null l)
and the number is zero ----> (= n 0) - actually (zerop n). But later I changed it to (>= n 0) to catch also the cases that a negative number is given as input.
(Thus very often recursive cond parts have null or zerop in their conditions.)
When the list l is empty, then the two lists have to be returned - while the second list is an empty list and the first list is - unintuitively - the reversed acc-l.
You have to build them with (list ) since the list arguments get evaluated shortly before return (in contrast to quote = '(...) where the result cannot be evaluated to sth in the last step.)
When n is zero (and later: when n is negative) then nothing is to do than to return l as the second list and what have been accumulated for the first list until now - but in reverse order.
In all other cases (t ...), the car of the list l is consed to the list which was accumulated until now (for the first list): (cons (car l) acc-l) and this I give as the accumulator list (acc-l) to split and the rest of the list as the new list in this call (cdr l) and (1- n). This decrementation in the recursive call is very typical for recursive function definitions.
By that, we have covered all possibilities for one step in the recursion.
And that makes recursion so powerful: conquer all possibilities in ONE step - and then you have defined how to handle nearly infinitely many cases.
Non-tail-recursive solution
(inspired by Dan Robertson's solution - Thank you Dan! Especially his solution with destructuring-bind I liked.)
(defun split (n l)
(cond ((null l) (list '() '()))
((>= 0 n) (list '() l))
(t (destructuring-bind (left right) (split (1- n) (cdr l))
(list (cons (car l) left) right)))))
And a solution with only very elementary functions (only null, list, >=, let, t, cons, car, cdr, cadr)
(defun split (n l)
(cond ((null l) (list '() '()))
((>= 0 n) (list '() l))
(t (let ((res (split (1- n) (cdr l))))
(let ((left-list (car res))
(right-list (cadr res)))
(list (cons (car l) left-list) right-list))))))
Remember: split returns a list of two lists.
(defun split (e L)
(cond ((eql e 0)
'(() L)) ; you want to call the function LIST
; so that the value of L is in the list,
; and not the symbol L itself
((> e 0)
; now you want to return a list of two lists.
; thus it probably is a good idea to call the function LIST
; the first sublist is made of the first element of L
; and the first sublist of the result of SPLIT
; the second sublist is made of the second sublist
; of the result of SPLIT
(cons (car L)
(car (split (- e 1)
(cdr L)))))))
Well let’s try to derive the recursion we should be doing.
(split 0 l) = (list () l)
So that’s our base case. Now we know
(split 1 (cons a b)) = (list (list a) b)
But we think a bit and we’re building up the first argument on the left and the way to build up lists that way is with CONS so we write down
(split 1 (cons a b)) = (list (cons a ()) b)
And then we think a bit and we think about what (split 0 l) is and we can write down for n>=1:
(split n+1 (cons a b)) = (list (cons a l1) l2) where (split n b) = (list l1 l2)
So let’s write that down in Lisp:
(defun split (n list)
(ecase (signum n)
(0 (list nil list))
(1 (if (cdr list)
(destructuring-bind (left right) (split (1- n) (cdr list))
(list (cons (car list) left) right))
(list nil nil)))))
The most idiomatic solution would be something like:
(defun split (n list)
(etypecase n
((eql 0) (list nil list))
(unsigned-integer
(loop repeat n for (x . r) on list
collect x into left
finally (return (list left r))))))
This question already has answers here:
Delete element from List in Scheme
(3 answers)
Closed 5 years ago.
In Racket using plai-typed, I am trying to find an element in a list and remove the first one it finds. It will then return the list with the first element it sees removed.
Here is an example:
'(1 2 3 2 5)
Filter out the first 2 and you should get:
'(1 3 2 5)
This is what I am currently doing, but it returns: '(1 3 5)
(filter (lambda (x) (not (equal? x 2))) '(1 2 3 2 5))
So what I am currently doing removes all the occurrences when I just want to remove the first one.
[edit]If you did not want to use that built in function you can do
(define (remove-1st-helper l n)
(cond [(empty? l) empty]
[(= 1 n) l]
[(= 2 (first l)) (remove-1st-helper (rest l)(add1 n))]
[else (cons (first l) (remove-1st-helper (rest l) n))]))
(define (remove-1st-occurence l)
(if (empty? l) empty (remove-1st-helper l 0)))
Don't know Racket, but maybe you can define it as a piece-wise function like this:
-- Define myFilter of an empty list to be empty
myFilter [] = []
-- Decomposes list into first element and rest of list
myFilter (x:xs)
-- Ignore `x` but include the rest of the list
| x == 2 = xs
-- Include x and apply myFilter on xs
| otherwise = x:(myFilter xs)
(Haskell code).
I'm not sure how to do this and couldn't find an example of it anywhere. How do I find the position of a value in a list. For example I have a (define findValue x lst) which accepts a value and list and from that list I want type in (findValue 3 '(1 2 0 8 5 6)) and it should return 0 since the value in position 3 is 0. From my understanding and how it usually is position 3 would be 8 and not 0 in arrays at least. How does it work in here and how do I approach this problem?
Thanks!
Try:
(define (at n xs)
(cond ((null? xs) xs)
((= n 1) (car xs))
(else (at (- n 1) (cdr xs)))))
Use it as follows:
(at 3 '(1 2 0 8 5 6)) => 0
For zero-based indexing change the (= n 1) check on the 3rd line to (= n 0).
Edit: So you want to partially apply the at function? All you need is curry and flip. They are defined as follows:
(define (curry func . args)
(lambda x (apply func (append args x))))
(define (flip func)
(lambda (a b) (func b a)))
Using curry and flip you can now partially apply at as follows:
(define position (curry (flip at) '(1 2 0 8 5 6)))
You can now use position as follows:
(position 3) => 0
(position 4) => 8
Hope that helped.
Usually indexes are counted starting from 0, and your understanding is correct. But if you're required to implement a findValue procedure that starts counting indexes from 1, it's not that hard to write the procedure:
(define (findValue idx lst)
(cond ((or (null? lst) (negative? idx)) #f)
((= idx 1) (car lst))
(else (findValue (sub1 idx) (cdr lst)))))
Explanation:
If the list received as parameter is empty or the index becomes negative, we treat that as a special case and return #f to indicate that the value was not found
If the index is 1 then we're right where we wanted, so it's time to return the current element
Otherwise advance the recursion: subtract one from the index and advance one position over the list
It works as expected:
(findValue 3 '(1 2 0 8 5 6))
=> 0
(findValue -1 '(1 2 0 8 5 6))
=> #f
(findValue 7 '(1 2 0 8 5 6))
=> #f
I was doing a problem from the HTDP book where you have to create a function that finds all the permutations for the list. The book gives the main function, and the question asks for you to create the helper function that would insert an element everywhere in the list. The helper function, called insert_everywhere, is only given 2 parameters.
No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to create this function using only two parameters.
This is my code:
(define (insert_everywhere elt lst)
(cond
[(empty? lst) empty]
[else (append (cons elt lst)
(cons (first lst) (insert_everywhere elt (rest lst))))]))
My desired output for (insert_everywhere 'a (list 1 2 3)) is (list 'a 1 2 3 1 'a 2 3 1 2 'a 3 1 2 3 'a), but instead my list keeps terminating.
I've been able to create this function using a 3rd parameter "position" where I do recursion on that parameter, but that botches my main function. Is there anyway to create this helper function with only two parameters? Thanks!
Have you tried:
(define (insert x index xs)
(cond ((= index 0) (cons x xs))
(else (cons (car xs) (insert x (- index 1) (cdr xs))))))
(define (range from to)
(cond ((> from to) empty)
(else (cons from (range (+ from 1) to)))))
(define (insert-everywhere x xs)
(fold-right (lambda (index ys) (append (insert x index xs) ys))
empty (range 0 (length xs))))
The insert function allows you to insert values anywhere within a list:
(insert 'a 0 '(1 2 3)) => (a 1 2 3)
(insert 'a 1 '(1 2 3)) => (1 a 2 3)
(insert 'a 2 '(1 2 3)) => (1 2 a 3)
(insert 'a 3 '(1 2 3)) => (1 2 3 a)
The range function allows you to create Haskell-style list ranges:
(range 0 3) => (0 1 2 3)
The insert-everywhere function makes use of insert and range. It's pretty easy to understand how it works. If your implementation of scheme doesn't have the fold-right function (e.g. mzscheme) then you can define it as follows:
(define (fold-right f acc xs)
(cond ((empty? xs) acc)
(else (f (car xs) (fold-right f acc (cdr xs))))))
As the name implies the fold-right function folds a list from the right.
You can do this by simply having 2 lists (head and tail) and sliding elements from one to the other:
(define (insert-everywhere elt lst)
(let loop ((head null) (tail lst)) ; initialize head (empty), tail (lst)
(append (append head (cons elt tail)) ; insert elt between head and tail
(if (null? tail)
null ; done
(loop (append head (list (car tail))) (cdr tail)))))) ; slide
(insert-everywhere 'a (list 1 2 3))
=> '(a 1 2 3 1 a 2 3 1 2 a 3 1 2 3 a)
In Racket, you could also express it in a quite concise way as follows:
(define (insert-everywhere elt lst)
(for/fold ((res null)) ((i (in-range (add1 (length lst)))))
(append res (take lst i) (cons elt (drop lst i)))))
This has a lot in common with my answer to Insert-everywhere procedure. There's a procedure that seems a bit odd until you need it, and then it's incredibly useful, called revappend. (append '(a b ...) '(x y ...)) returns a list (a b ... x y ...), with the elements of (a b ...). Since it's so easy to collect lists in reverse order while traversing a list recursively, it's useful sometimes to have revappend, which reverses the first argument, so that (revappend '(a b ... m n) '(x y ...)) returns (n m ... b a x y ...). revappend is easy to implement efficiently:
(define (revappend list tail)
(if (null? list)
tail
(revappend (rest list)
(list* (first list) tail))))
Now, a direct version of this insert-everywhere is straightforward. This version isn't tail recursive, but it's pretty simple, and doesn't do any unnecessary list copying. The idea is that we walk down the lst to end up with the following rhead and tail:
rhead tail (revappend rhead (list* item (append tail ...)))
------- ------- ------------------------------------------------
() (1 2 3) (r 1 2 3 ...)
(1) (2 3) (1 r 2 3 ...)
(2 1) (3) (1 2 r 3 ...)
(3 2 1) () (1 2 3 r ...)
If you put the recursive call in the place of the ..., then you get the result that you want:
(define (insert-everywhere item lst)
(let ie ((rhead '())
(tail lst))
(if (null? tail)
(revappend rhead (list item))
(revappend rhead
(list* item
(append tail
(ie (list* (first tail) rhead)
(rest tail))))))))
> (insert-everywhere 'a '(1 2 3))
'(a 1 2 3 1 a 2 3 1 2 a 3 1 2 3 a)
Now, this isn't tail recursive. If you want a tail recursive (and thus iterative) version, you'll have to construct your result in a slightly backwards way, and then reverse everything at the end. You can do this, but it does mean one extra copy of the list (unless you destructively reverse it).
(define (insert-everywhere item lst)
(let ie ((rhead '())
(tail lst)
(result '()))
(if (null? tail)
(reverse (list* item (append rhead result)))
(ie (list* (first tail) rhead)
(rest tail)
(revappend tail
(list* item
(append rhead
result)))))))
> (insert-everywhere 'a '(1 2 3))
'(a 1 2 3 1 a 2 3 1 2 a 3 1 2 3 a)
How about creating a helper function to the helper function?
(define (insert_everywhere elt lst)
(define (insert_everywhere_aux elt lst)
(cons (cons elt lst)
(if (empty? lst)
empty
(map (lambda (x) (cons (first lst) x))
(insert_everywhere_aux elt (rest lst))))))
(apply append (insert_everywhere_aux elt lst)))
We need our sublists kept separate, so that each one can be prefixed separately. If we'd append all prematurely, we'd lose the boundaries. So we append only once, in the very end:
insert a (list 1 2 3) = ; step-by-step illustration:
((a)) ; the base case;
((a/ 3)/ (3/ a)) ; '/' signifies the consing
((a/ 2 3)/ (2/ a 3) (2/ 3 a))
((a/ 1 2 3)/ (1/ a 2 3) (1/ 2 a 3) (1/ 2 3 a))
( a 1 2 3 1 a 2 3 1 2 a 3 1 2 3 a ) ; the result
Testing:
(insert_everywhere 'a (list 1 2 3))
;Value 19: (a 1 2 3 1 a 2 3 1 2 a 3 1 2 3 a)
By the way this internal function is tail recursive modulo cons, more or less, as also seen in the illustration. This suggests it should be possible to convert it into an iterative form. Joshua Taylor shows another way, using revappend. Reversing the list upfront simplifies the flow in his solution (which now corresponds to building directly the result row in the illustration, from right to left, instead of "by columns" in my version):
(define (insert_everywhere elt lst)
(let g ((rev (reverse lst))
(q '())
(res '()))
(if (null? rev)
(cons elt (append q res))
(g (cdr rev)
(cons (car rev) q)
(revappend rev (cons elt (append q res)))))))