I have defined Church numeral zero and some other standard functions on church numerals according to Wikipedia definitions as following:
(define n0 (λ (f x) x))
(define newtrue
(λ(m n) m))
(define newfalse
(λ(m n) n))
(define iszero
(λ(m) (m (λ(x) newfalse) newtrue)))
(define ifthenelse
(λ(a b c) (a b c)))
Using these, I write a recursion loop as:
(((λ(r) (λ(n) (ifthenelse (iszero n) n ((r r) n))))
(λ(r) (λ(n) (ifthenelse (iszero n) n ((r r) n))))) n0)
Now for argument n0 as above, this should return n0, without going into recursion. But it doesn't. Why?
Note 1: This recursion loop works perfectly fine with ordinary numerals and ordinary functions:
(((λ(r) (λ(n) (if (= 0 n) n ((r r) n))))
(λ(r) (λ(n) (if (= 0 n) n ((r r) n))))) 0)
This returns 0 as it should.
Note 2: Functions ifthenelse, iszero, newtrue, newfalse also work fine on their own.
The reason for the loop is that the semantics of functions in Scheme is to always evaluate all its arguments.
In your second example:
(((λ(r) (λ(n) (if (= 0 n) n ((r r) n))))
(λ(r) (λ(n) (if (= 0 n) n ((r r) n))))) 0)
you are using if, which is a special form that does not evaluate the third argument if the condition is true. So, it evaluates (= 0 n) and returns immediately 0, since the condition is #true, without evaluating the third argument ((r r) n).
Instead, in the first example:
(((λ(r) (λ(n) (ifthenelse (iszero n) n ((r r) n))))
(λ(r) (λ(n) (ifthenelse (iszero n) n ((r r) n))))) n0)
ifthenelse is a function, so that, according to the evaluation rules of Scheme, all its arguments are evaluated, including ((r r) n), and this causes an endless loop.
Related
I'm new to CHICKEN and Scheme. In my quest to understanding tail recursion, I wrote:
(define (recsum x) (recsum-tail x 0))
(define (recsum-tail x accum)
(if (= x 0)
accum
(recsum-tail (- x 1) (+ x accum))))
This does what I expect it to. However, this seems a little repetitive; having an optional argument should make this neater. So I tried:
(define (recsum x . y)
(let ((accum (car y)))
(if (= x 0)
accum
(recsum (- x 1) (+ x accum)))))
However, in CHICKEN (and maybe in other scheme implementations), car cannot be used against ():
Error: (car) bad argument type: ()
Is there another way to implement optional function arguments, specifically in CHICKEN 5?
I think you're looking for a named let, not for optional procedure arguments. It's a simple way to define a helper procedure with (possibly) extra parameters that you can initialize as required:
(define (recsum x)
(let recsum-tail ((x x) (accum 0))
(if (= x 0)
accum
(recsum-tail (- x 1) (+ x accum)))))
Of course, we can also implement it with varargs - but I don't think this looks as elegant:
(define (recsum x . y)
(let ((accum (if (null? y) 0 (car y))))
(if (= x 0)
accum
(recsum (- x 1) (+ x accum)))))
Either way, it works as expected:
(recsum 10)
=> 55
Chicken has optional arguments. You can do it like this:
(define (sum n #!optional (acc 0))
(if (= n 0)
acc
(sum (- n 1) (+ acc n))))
However I will vote against using this as it is non standard Scheme. Chicken say they support SRFI-89: Optional positional and named parameters, but it seems it's an earlier version and the egg needs to be redone. Anyway when it is re-applied this should work:
;;chicken-install srfi-89 # install the egg
(use srfi-89) ; imports the egg
(define (sum n (acc 0))
(if (= n 0)
acc
(sum (- n 1) (+ acc n))))
Also your idea of using rest arguments work. However keep in mind that the procedure then will build a pair on the heap for each iteration:
(define (sum n . acc-lst)
(define acc
(if (null? acc-lst)
0
(car acc-lst)))
(if (= n 0)
acc
(sum (- n 1) (+ acc n))))
All of these leak internal information. Sometimes it's part of the public contract to have an optional parameter, but in this case it is to avoid writing a few more lines. Usually you don't want someone to pass a second argument and you should keep the internals private. The better way would be to use named let and keep the public contract as is.
(define (sum n)
(let loop ((n n) (acc 0))
(if (= n 0)
acc
(loop (- n 1) (+ acc n))))
I'm pretty new to Common Lisp. And I try to build my own operator functions.
In the first function I tried to add one to the given number.
The second function we do a recursive use of the first in the frequency of m.
When I enter totaladd ( 5 3 ) I expect an 8.
What can I do about the undefined funciton k?
(defun add1(n)
(+ n 1)
)
(write (add1 5))
(defun totaladd (k m)
(if (eq m 0)
0
(totaladd(add1(k) (- m 1)))
)
)
(write (totaladd 5 3))
There are three errors in the next line:
(totaladd(add1(k) (- m 1)))
Let's look at it:
(totaladd ; totaladd is a function with two parameters
; you pass only one argument -> first ERROR
(add1 ; add1 is a function with one parameter
; you pass two arguments -> second ERROR
(k) ; K is a variable, but you call it as a function,
; but the function K is undefined -> third ERROR
(- m 1)))
(defun add1 (n) (+ n 1))
(defun totaladd (k m)
(if (= m 0)
k
(add1 (totaladd k (- m 1)))))
There is a extra function for (= ... 0) called zerop which asks whether a number os zero or not. Very frequently used when recursing over numbers as the break condition out of the recursion.
There is also an extra function for (- ... 1) or (+ ... 1) because these are common steps when recursing with numbers: (1- ...) and (1+ ...), respectively.
(Their destructive forms are (incf ...) and (decf ...), but these are not needed for recursion.)
So, using this, your form becomes:
(defun totaladd (k m)
(if (zerop m)
k
(add1 (totaladd k (1- m)))))
I am reading sicp, there's a problem (practice 1.29), I write a scheme function to solve the the question, but it seems that the recursive call of the function get the wrong answer. Really strange to me. The code is following:
(define simpson
(lambda (f a b n)
(let ((h (/ (- b a) n))
(k 0))
(letrec
((sum (lambda (term start next end)
(if (> start end)
0
(+ (term start)
(sum term (next start) next end)))))
(next (lambda (x)
(let ()
(set! k (+ k 1))
(+ x h))))
(term (lambda (x)
(cond
((= k 0) (f a))
((= k n) (f b))
((even? k) (* 2
(f x)))
(else (* 4
(f x)))))))
(sum term a next b)))))
I didn't get the right answer.
For example, if I try to call the simpson function like this:
(simpson (lambda (x) x) 0 1 4)
I expected to get the 6, but it returned 10 to me, I am not sure where the error is.It seems to me that the function "sum" defined inside of Simpson function is not right.
If I rewrite the sum function inside of simpson using the iteration instead of recursive, I get the right answer.
You need to multiply the sum with h/3:
(* 1/3 h (sum term a next b))
I have the following 2 functions that I wish to combine into one:
(defun fib (n)
(if (= n 0) 0 (fib-r n 0 1)))
(defun fib-r (n a b)
(if (= n 1) b (fib-r (- n 1) b (+ a b))))
I would like to have just one function, so I tried something like this:
(defun fib (n)
(let ((f0 (lambda (n) (if (= n 0) 0 (funcall f1 n 0 1))))
(f1 (lambda (a b n) (if (= n 1) b (funcall f1 (- n 1) b (+ a b))))))
(funcall f0 n)))
however this is not working. The exact error is *** - IF: variable F1 has no value
I'm a beginner as far as LISP goes, so I'd appreciate a clear answer to the following question: how do you write a recursive lambda function in lisp?
Thanks.
LET conceptually binds the variables at the same time, using the same enclosing environment to evaluate the expressions. Use LABELS instead, that also binds the symbols f0 and f1 in the function namespace:
(defun fib (n)
(labels ((f0 (n) (if (= n 0) 0 (f1 n 0 1)))
(f1 (a b n) (if (= n 1) b (f1 (- n 1) b (+ a b)))))
(f0 n)))
You can use Graham's alambda as an alternative to labels:
(defun fib (n)
(funcall (alambda (n a b)
(cond ((= n 0) 0)
((= n 1) b)
(t (self (- n 1) b (+ a b)))))
n 0 1))
Or... you could look at the problem a bit differently: Use Norvig's defun-memo macro (automatic memoization), and a non-tail-recursive version of fib, to define a fib function that doesn't even need a helper function, more directly expresses the mathematical description of the fib sequence, and (I think) is at least as efficient as the tail recursive version, and after multiple calls, becomes even more efficient than the tail-recursive version.
(defun-memo fib (n)
(cond ((= n 0) 0)
((= n 1) 1)
(t (+ (fib (- n 1))
(fib (- n 2))))))
You can try something like this as well
(defun fib-r (n &optional (a 0) (b 1) )
(cond
((= n 0) 0)
((= n 1) b)
(T (fib-r (- n 1) b (+ a b)))))
Pros: You don't have to build a wrapper function. Cond constructt takes care of if-then-elseif scenarios. You call this on REPL as (fib-r 10) => 55
Cons: If user supplies values to a and b, and if these values are not 0 and 1, you wont get correct answer
I want to program a function to find C(n,k) using tail recursion, and I would greatly appreciate your help.
I have reached this:
(defun tail-recursive-binomial (n k)
(cond ((or (< n k) (< k 0)) NIL)
((or (= k 0) (= n k)) 1)
(T (* (tail-recursive-binomial (- n 1) (- k 1)) (/ n k)))))
Using the following property of the binomial coefficients.
But I don't know how to make the recursive call to be the last instruction executed by each instance, since there the last one is the product. I have been trying it by using an auxiliary function, which I think is the only way, but I haven't found a solution.
As starblue suggests, use a recursive auxiliary function:
(defun binom (n k)
(if (or (< n k) (< k 0))
NIL ; there are better ways to handle errors in Lisp
(binom-r n k 1)))
;; acc is an accumulator variable
(defun binom-r (n k acc)
(if (or (= k 0) (= n k))
acc
(binom-r (- n 1) (- k 1) (* acc (/ n k)))))
Or, give the main function an optional accumulator argument with a default value of 1 (the recursive base case):
(defun binom (n k &optional (acc 1))
(cond ((or (< n k) (< k 0)) NIL)
((or (= k 0) (= n k)) acc)
(T (binom (- n 1) (- k 1) (* acc (/ n k))))))
The latter option is slightly less efficient, since the error condition is checked in every recursive call.
You need an auxiliary function with an extra argument, which you use for computing and passing the result.