Quicksort in lisp shows lambda function error - common-lisp

I wrote the following code for quicksort pretty much similar to the C code. But here it only reads elements to the list.after that it says that the partition function should be a lambda function.I' m new to lisp. Please help me.My code is:-
(print "Enter the elements of the array")
(setq k 10)
(setq A (make-array '(10)))
(setq i 0)
(loop
(if (>= i 10) (return))
(setq x (read))
(setf (aref A i) x)
(incf i)
)
(defun quicksort(start end)
(if (< start end)
((setq pindex (lambda (start end)))
(quicksort(start (- pindex 1)))
(quicksort((+ pindex 1) end))))
)
(defun partition(start end)
(setq pivot (aref A end))
(setq pindex start)
(setq j 0)
(loop
(if (>= j end) return)
(if (< (aref A j) pivot)
((setq temp (aref A pindex))
(setq pindex (aref A j))
(setq (aref A j) temp)
(incf pindex)))
(incf j)
)
(setq temp (aref A pindex))
(setq (aref A pindex) pivot)
(setq (aref A end) temp)
)
(quicksort 0 10)
And want to know whats this lambda function.whether it's just an anonymous name given to a function that is not yet defined

I'll do this step by step. First, use standard formatting:
(print "Enter the elements of the array")
(setq k 10)
(setq A (make-array '(10)))
(setq i 0)
(loop
(if (>= i 10) (return))
(setq x (read))
(setf (aref A i) x)
(incf i))
(defun quicksort (start end)
(if (< start end)
((setq pindex (lambda (start end)))
(quicksort(start (- pindex 1)))
(quicksort((+ pindex 1) end)))))
(defun partition (start end)
(setq pivot (aref A end))
(setq pindex start)
(setq j 0)
(loop
(if (>= j end) return)
(if (< (aref A j) pivot)
((setq temp (aref A pindex))
(setq pindex (aref A j))
(setq (aref A j) temp)
(incf pindex)))
(incf j))
(setq temp (aref A pindex))
(setq (aref A pindex) pivot)
(setq (aref A end) temp))
(quicksort 0 10)
Put out the current problem: parentheses always surround forms, they do not
group forms by themselves.
(print "Enter the elements of the array")
(setq k 10)
(setq A (make-array '(10)))
(setq i 0)
(loop
(if (>= i 10) (return))
(setq x (read))
(setf (aref A i) x)
(incf i))
(defun quicksort (start end)
(if (< start end)
(progn
(setq pindex (lambda (start end)))
(quicksort(start (- pindex 1)))
(quicksort((+ pindex 1) end)))))
(defun partition (start end)
(setq pivot (aref A end))
(setq pindex start)
(setq j 0)
(loop
(if (>= j end) return)
(if (< (aref A j) pivot)
(progn
(setq temp (aref A pindex))
(setq pindex (aref A j))
(setq (aref A j) temp)
(incf pindex)))
(incf j))
(setq temp (aref A pindex))
(setq (aref A pindex) pivot)
(setq (aref A end) temp))
(quicksort 0 10)
Some errors, line by line:
(print "Enter the elements of the array")
(setq k 10) ; warning: no variable K
(setq A (make-array '(10))) ; warning: no variable A
(setq i 0) ; warning: no variable I
(loop
(if (>= i 10) (return))
(setq x (read))
(setf (aref A i) x)
(incf i)) ; warning: k never used
(defun quicksort (start end)
(if (< start end)
(progn
(setq pindex (lambda (start end))) ; this lambda always returns nil
(quicksort (start (- pindex 1))) ; START is not a function
(quicksort ((+ pindex 1) end))))) ; (+ PINDEX 1) is not a function
(defun partition (start end)
(setq pivot (aref A end)) ; warning: no variable PIVOT
(setq pindex start) ; warning: no variable PINDEX
(setq j 0) ; warning: no variable J
(loop
(if (>= j end) return) ; warning: no variable RETURN
(if (< (aref A j) pivot)
(progn
(setq temp (aref A pindex)) ; warning: no variable TEMP
(setq pindex (aref A j))
(setq (aref A j) temp)
(incf pindex)))
(incf j))
(setq temp (aref A pindex))
(setq (aref A pindex) pivot)
(setq (aref A end) temp))
(quicksort 0 10)
Get rid of the "no variable" warnings. Setq does not introduce variables.
Most Common Lisp implementations do something useful so that this seems to work,
but it is undefined behaviour. You could declare these variables globally
special with defvar or defparameter, but what you actually need here is a
function to read user input inside which you can use let to make local
bindings. It also returns the read array instead of setting global state. I
also chose to use K as a parameter for some flexibility of use. Finish-output
ensures that the prompt is displayed before the first number is to be entered.
(defun read-integers (k)
(print "Enter the elements of the array.")
(finish-output)
(let ((a (make-array (list k)))
(i 0))
(loop
(if (>= i k)
(return))
(let ((x (read)))
(setf (aref a i) x)
(incf i)))
a))
This still leaves much room for improvement, but at least it works.
Next: repair quicksort. Since it does not use partition anywhere but sports
an empty lambda form, I assume that you wanted to call partition there. I
also repair the calling forms and missing binding:
(defun quicksort (start end)
(if (< start end)
(let ((pindex (partition start end)))
(quicksort start (- pindex 1))
(quicksort (+ pindex 1) end))))
This operates on a global array that you do not see mentioned anywhere in its
body. This is very confusing and makes the code very unreadable and
unmaintainable. It is much better to give the array as a parameter, so that you
call it as (quicksort (read-integers 10) 0 10).
For performance, we need to operate on it in place, which is unusual enough that
it ought to be mentioned in the docstring. I return the array so that the usual
semantics of sort can be used for it. An IF without alternative clause is
better written as a WHEN.
(defun quicksort (array start end)
"Destructively sorts ARRAY in place."
(when (< start end)
(let ((pindex (partition array start end)))
(quicksort array start (- pindex 1))
(quicksort array (+ pindex 1) end)))
array)
This still contains an off-by-one error, but I'll look at partition now.
First, address the usual binding problems:
(defun partition (array start end)
"Chooses an arbitrary pivot element from array between START and END, then
destructively partitions the elements of ARRAY between START and END
in-place into those smaller than the pivot, then the pivot, then those
bigger than the pivot. Finally returns the index of the pivot."
;; FIXME: doesn't work
(let ((pivot (aref array end))
(pindex start)
(j 0))
(loop
(if (>= j end) (return))
(if (< (aref array j) pivot)
(let ((temp (aref array pindex)))
(setf pindex (aref array j))
(setf (aref array j) temp)
(incf pindex)))
(incf j))
(let ((temp (aref array pindex)))
(setf (aref array pindex) pivot)
(setf (aref array end) temp))))
This is just wrong. Please look up how quicksort works.
Hints:
you need two index variables
you should not reference parts of the array outside of START and END
tip: instead of manual swapping through an explicit temporary place, use rotatef
tip: position-if might be useful. Look it up in the Hyperspec.
tip: test partition by itself. When it works, fix quicksort.

If you want to use multiple statements in the body of an if, you can't just wrap ( ) around them. In Lisp, parens have meaning; they're not for grouping.
Your choices are
(if (< (aref A j) pivot)
(progn
(setq temp (aref A pindex))
(setq pindex (aref A j))
(setq (aref A j) temp)
(incf pindex)))
or
(when (< (aref A j) pivot)
(setq temp (aref A pindex))
(setq pindex (aref A j))
(setq (aref A j) temp)
(incf pindex))

Related

Why does set-difference in sbcl common-lisp appear to be destructive?

The following code snippet compiles under SBCL 2.2.3 (using Emacs/SLIME, C-c C-k), and the .fasl is loaded without errors.
On a subsequent call to test-sets in the REPL, the value of *evens* is set to *all*. Reading the documentation I could find, I cannot figure out why this happens and why calling test-sets would result in nil. Thank you in advance to everyone reading and/or responding.
(defun get-n (n)
"Return a list of integers from 0 up to n-1"
(do ((i (1- n) (1- i))
(res nil (cons i res)))
((< i 0) res)))
(defun get-odd-n (n)
"Returns a list of odd integers from 1 up to n-1"
(do ((i (1- n) (1- i))
(res nil (if (oddp i)
(cons i res) res)))
((< i 0) res)))
(defun get-even-n (n)
"Returns a list of even integers from 0 up to n-1"
(do ((i (1- n) (1- i))
(res nil (if (evenp i)
(cons i res) res)))
((< i 0) res)))
(defconstant +n+ 10)
(defparameter *all* (get-n +n+))
(defparameter *odds* (get-odd-n +n+))
(defparameter *evens* (get-even-n +n+))
(defun test-sets ()
"After compiling and loading .fasl,
why is *evens* altered after calling test-sets?"
(and (equal (sort (intersection *evens* *all*) #'<) *evens*)
(equal (sort (intersection *odds* *all*) #'<) *odds*)
(equal (sort (union *odds* *evens*) #'<) *all*)
(equal (sort (set-difference *all* *odds* :test #'eql) #'<) *evens*)
(equal (sort (set-difference *all* *evens* :test #'eql) #'<) *odds*)))
The UNION result shares list structure with its inputs.
SORT is destructive.
->
SORT changes the list structure, incl. the list structure *evens* points to.
Solution:
Either: define a non-destructive SORT
Or: or copy the list which is the argument to SORT
(sort (copy-list ...) ...)

Unexpected results for 'finding the digits' problem using recursion in Common Lisp

The "finding the digits problem" is this:
Find unique decimal digits A, B, C such that
CCC
+ BBB
+ AAA
= CAAB
To solve it using recursion in Common Lisp, I've written this code:
(defun find! ()
(found? 0 ;; initially point to the number 1
'(1 2 3) ;; initial list
'() ;; initially no numbers found
3 ;; numbers list width is 3
) )
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(if (< index (1- width))
(do ( (j 1 (1+ j) ) )
( (> j 9) lst)
(unless (some (lambda (x) (= x j)) occupied)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(push j occupied)
(if (found? (1+ index) lst occupied width) ;; recursion happens here
lst
(setf occupied (remove j occupied)))))
(do ( (j 1 (1+ j) ) )
( (> j 9) lst)
(unless (some (lambda (x) (= x j)) occupied)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(let ((lefthnd (* 111 (reduce #'+ lst)))
(rghthnd (reduce #'+
(mapcar
(lambda (x y) (* x y))
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third lst) (first lst)
(first lst) (second lst))))))
(if (= lefthnd rghthnd)
lst
'nil))))))
The delivered result (lst) is (9 9 9)
The expected result (lst) is (9 8 1) meaning A=9, B=8, C=1 so that the equation CCC + BBB + AAA = CAAB holds i.e.
111 ; CCC
+ 888 ; BBB
+ 999 ; AAA
= 1998 ; CAAB
Which parts of the code should I change so that it gives the expected result? Can someone fix the code? Note that using recursion is a must. Only one line of recursion is enough i.e. like the line where the ;; recursion happens here comment is.
What is the minimal edit to fix this code?
The minimal edit needed to make your code work is the following three small changes (marked with ;;;; NB in the comments):
You are not allowed to surgically modify the structure of a quoted list, as you do. It must be freshly allocated, for that.
(defun find! ()
(found? 0 ;; initially point to the number 1
(list 1 2 3) ;; initial list ;;;; NB freshly allocated!
'() ;; initially no numbers found
3 ;; numbers list width is 3
) )
You must change the structure of the code (moving one closing paren one line up) to always undo the push of j into occupied:
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(if (< index (1- width))
(do ( (j 1 (1+ j) ) )
( (> j 9) lst)
(unless (some (lambda (x) (= x j)) occupied)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(push j occupied)
(if (found? (1+ index) lst occupied width) ;; recursion happens here
lst) ;;;; NB
(setf occupied (remove j occupied)))) ;;;; NB _always_ undo the push
(do ( (j 1 (1+ j) ) )
( (> j 9) lst)
(unless (some (lambda (x) (= x j)) occupied)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(let ((lefthnd (* 111 (reduce #'+ lst)))
(rghthnd (reduce #'+
(mapcar
(lambda (x y) (* x y))
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third lst) (first lst)
(first lst) (second lst))))))
(if (= lefthnd rghthnd)
(return-from found? lst) ;;;; NB actually return here
'nil))))))
You also must actually return the result, once it is found (seen in the above snippet as well).
If you change the return-from line to print the result instead of returning it, you will get all of them printed.
If you want to get them all in a list instead of being printed, you can surgically append each of the results to some list defined in some outer scope (or cons onto the front and reverse it when it's all done, if you prefer).
Or in general, you can change this code to accept a callback and call it with each result, when it is found, and let this callback to do whatever it does with it -- print it, append it to an external list, whatever.
Remarks: your code follows a general recursive-backtracking approach, creating three nested loops structure through recursion. The actual result is calculated -- and put into lst by surgical manipulation -- at the deepest level of recursion, corresponding to the innermost loop of j from 1 to 9 (while avoiding the duplicates).
There's lots of inconsequential code here. For instance, the if in (if (found? ...) lst) isn't needed at all and can be just replaced with (found? ...). I would also prefer different names -- occupied should really be named used, lst should be res (for "result"), index is canonically named just i, width is just n, etc. etc. (naming is important)... But you did request the smallest change.
This code calculates the result lst gradually, as a side effect on the way in to the innermost level of the nested loops, where it is finally fully set up.
Thus this code follows e.g. an example of Peter Norvig's PAIP Prolog interpreter, which follows the same paradigm. In pseudocode:
let used = []
for a from 1 to 9:
if a not in used:
used += [a]
for b from 1 to 9:
if b not in used:
used += [b]
for c from 1 to 9:
if c not in used and valid(a,b,c):
return [a,b,c] # or:
# print [a,b,c] # or:
# call(callback,[a,b,c]) # etc.
remove b from used
remove a from used
Here's your code re-structured, renamed, and streamlined:
(defun find2 ( &aux (res (list 0 0 0))
(used '()) (n (length res)))
(labels
((f (i)
(do ((d 1 (1+ d))) ; for d from 1 to 9...
((> d 9) 'FAIL) ; FAIL: no solution!
(unless (member d used) ; "d" for "digit"
(setf (nth i res) d) ; res = [A... B... C...]
(cond
((< i (- n 1)) ; outer levels
(setf used (cons d used))
(f (1+ i)) ; recursion! going in...
(setf used (cdr used))) ; and we're out.
(T ; the innermost level!
(let ((left (* 111 (reduce #'+ res)))
(rght (reduce #'+
(mapcar #'* '(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third res) ; C A A B
(first res)
(first res)
(second res))))))
(if (= left rght)
(return-from find2 res))))))))) ; success!
(f 0)))
This is now closely resembling the C++ code you once had in your question, where the working function (here, f) also received just one argument, indicating the depth level of the nested loop -- corresponding to the index of the digit being tried, -- and the rest of the variables were in an outer scope (there, global; here, the auxiliary variables in the containing function find2).
By the way, you aren't trying any 0s for some reason.
You seem to be able to solve the problem using another language, so I won't spend too long talking about the problem/algorithm used (you already know how to do it). However, as it seems that you are learning Common Lisp, I am going to provide a typical StackOverflow answer, and give a lot of advice that you haven't asked for !
Fix your parentheses/indentation, this will make the code clearer for you.
Split your code in more, smaller functions. You are solving a problem using a recursive function, with several parameters, and the function is more than twenty lines long. This makes it really hard to read and to debug.
Use built-in functions: (some (lambda (x) (= x j)) occupied) == (member j occupied :test #'=), and in that case, it still works without specifying the test (this is technically wrong, the two functions do not return the same thing, but you only ever use the result as a boolean so this is effectively the same thing here).
(mapcar (lambda (x y) (* x y)) ...) is just a longer way to write (mapcar #'* ...)
'nil == nil, you don't need to quote it. It is also (arguably) good style to use () instead of nil to represent the empty list (as opposed to a boolean value), but this really is a minor point.
As far as the algorithm is concerned, I will gladly help if you rewrite it using smaller functions. At the moment, it really is unnecessarily hard to read and understand.
EDIT:
I still tried to take the time to rewrite the code and come up with a cleaner solution.
TL;DR: this is the final result, with "minimal" modifications to your code:
(defun find! ()
(found? 0 (list 1 2 3) () 3))
(defun compute-lefthand (list)
(* 111 (reduce #'+ list)))
(defun compute-righthand (list)
(reduce #'+ (mapcar #'*
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third list)
(first list)
(first list)
(second list)))))
(defun check-solution (list)
(when (= (compute-lefthand list)
(compute-righthand list))
list))
(defun try-solution (j index list occupied width)
(unless (member j occupied)
(setf (nth index list) j)
(found? (1+ index)
list
(cons j occupied)
width)))
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(if (= index width)
(check-solution lst)
(dotimes (j 10)
(when (try-solution j index lst occupied width)
(return lst)))))
Your initial code, on top of style issues already mentioned in my initial answer, had shaky control flow. It was somewhat hard to determine what was really returned by each recursive call, because you do not have smaller functions and so it was not clear what the goal of each part was, how the information was transmitted from the recursive call to the parent, which objects where modified and so on.
Now, my code is not the cleanest, and I would probably not use this strategy to solve the problem, but I tried to stay as close as possible to your initial code. Main differences:
I split things into smaller functions. This makes everything clearer, and above all, easier to test. Each function returns something clear. For example, check-solution returns the list if it represents a proper solution, and nil otherwise; this is made clear by the fact that I use a when instead of an if control structure.
I replace do by dotimes which is also clearer; the variable that is changing, and how it is changing at each step, is now immediately visible.
I do not use the &optional return argument to the do/dotimes macro, and instead use an explicit return. It is then clear to determine what is being returned, and when.
I do not use push/pop to modify my lists. You are using a recursive strategy, and so your "modifications" should take the form of different arguments passed to functions. Once again, it makes reasoning about the program easier, by knowing exactly what each function does to each argument. An even better solution would also be to remove the call to setf and instead use (cons <smtg> lst) as the argument of the recursive call, but it's fine.
The error in your initial program is probably coming from the fact that your function does not return what you think, because you have several consecutive expressions, each invoked under different circumstances, whose return value is itself wrong because they are not in the right order and modify objects and return them at the wrong time using do's optional return value.
TL;DR: split things up; make each function do a single thing.
Your code
(defun find! ()
(found? 0 ;; initially show the number 1
'(1 2 3) ;; initial list
'() ;; initially no numbers found
3 ;; numbers list width is 3
) )
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(if (< index (1- width))
(do ( (j 1 (1+ j) ) )
( (> j 9) lst)
(unless (some (lambda (x) (= x j)) occupied)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(push j occupied)
(if (found? (1+ index) lst occupied width) ;; recursion
lst
(setf occupied (remove j occupied)))))
(do ( (j 1 (1+ j) ) )
( (> j 9) lst)
(unless (some (lambda (x) (= x j)) occupied)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(let ((lefthnd (* 111 (reduce #'+ lst)))
(rghthnd (reduce #'+ (mapcar (lambda (x y) (* x y))
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third lst) (first lst) (first lst) (second lst))
))))
(if (= lefthnd rghthnd)
lst
'nil))))))
Indentation and comment style: end-of-line comments use a single semicolon,
align non-body arguments, indent bodies by two spaces
(defun find! ()
(found? 0 ; initially show the number 1
'(1 2 3) ; initial list
'() ; initially no numbers found
3)) ; numbers list width is 3
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(if (< index (1- width))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) lst)
(unless (some (lambda (x) (= x j)) occupied)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(push j occupied)
(if (found? (1+ index) lst occupied width) ; recursion
lst
(setf occupied (remove j occupied)))))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) lst)
(unless (some (lambda (x) (= x j)) occupied)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(let ((lefthnd (* 111 (reduce #'+ lst)))
(rghthnd (reduce #'+
(mapcar (lambda (x y) (* x y))
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third lst)
(first lst)
(first lst)
(second lst))))))
(if (= lefthnd rghthnd)
lst
'nil))))))
Use more telling predicates: find or member. Don't wrap * in a lambda doing
nothing else. (I'll leave aside find! hereafter.)
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(if (< index (1- width))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) lst)
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(push j occupied)
(if (found? (1+ index) lst occupied width) ; recursion
lst
(setf occupied (remove j occupied)))))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) lst)
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(let ((lefthnd (* 111 (reduce #'+ lst)))
(rghthnd (reduce #'+
(mapcar #'*
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third lst)
(first lst)
(first lst)
(second lst))))))
(if (= lefthnd rghthnd)
lst
'nil))))))
The body of a do doesn't return anything. There is a lot of dead code,
which we remove now:
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(if (< index (1- width))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) lst)
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(push j occupied)
(unless (found? (1+ index) lst occupied width) ; recursion
(setf occupied (remove j occupied)))))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) lst)
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)))))
Instead of pushing and then conditionally removing, we can conditionally push:
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(if (< index (1- width))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) lst)
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(when (found? (1+ index) lst occupied width) ; recursion
(push j occupied))))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) lst)
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)))))
While it makes a difference in performance, putting the outer conditional
into the inner body makes it more readable here:
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) lst)
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(when (and (< index (1- width))
(found? (1+ index) lst occupied width)) ; recursion
(push j occupied)))))
This does nothing except count to 9 a few times, which seems to be congruent
to your findings.
I guess that you wanted to return something from the dead code. You might
want to use return-from for that.
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(if (< index (1- width))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) lst)
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(push j occupied)
(if (found? (1+ index) lst occupied width) ; recursion
(return-from found? lst)
(setf occupied (remove j occupied)))))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) lst)
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(let ((lefthnd (* 111 (reduce #'+ lst)))
(rghthnd (reduce #'+
(mapcar #'*
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third lst)
(first lst)
(first lst)
(second lst))))))
(when (= lefthnd rghthnd)
(return-from found? lst)))))))
This returns (1 2 9), which is wrong. The problem seems to be that you
return the list even when you run over 9, but you want to return nil then,
because you didn't find anything.
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(if (< index (1- width))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) nil) ; <- nothing found
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(push j occupied)
(if (found? (1+ index) lst occupied width) ; recursion
(return-from found? lst)
(setf occupied (remove j occupied)))))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) nil) ; <- nothing found
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(let ((lefthnd (* 111 (reduce #'+ lst)))
(rghthnd (reduce #'+
(mapcar #'*
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third lst)
(first lst)
(first lst)
(second lst))))))
(when (= lefthnd rghthnd)
(return-from found? lst)))))))
This returns (9 8 1), which is correct. Now that I seem to understand what
you're trying to do, let's refactor a bit more. Instead of pushing and
removing from the occupied list, just create a new list with the new element
in front transiently:
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(if (< index (1- width))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) nil)
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(when (found? (1+ index) ; recursion
lst
(cons j occupied)
width)
(return-from found? lst))))
(do ((j 1 (1+ j)))
((> j 9) nil)
(unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
(setf (nth index lst) j)
(let ((lefthnd (* 111 (reduce #'+ lst)))
(rghthnd (reduce #'+
(mapcar #'*
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third lst)
(first lst)
(first lst)
(second lst))))))
(when (= lefthnd rghthnd)
(return-from found? lst)))))))
I think that using loop instead of do makes this much more readable:
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(if (< index (1- width))
(loop :for j :from 1 :to 9
:unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
:do (setf (nth index lst) j)
(when (found? (1+ index) ; recursion
lst
(cons j occupied)
width)
(return-from found? lst)))
(loop :for j :from 1 :to 9
:unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
:do (setf (nth index lst) j)
(let ((lefthnd (* 111 (reduce #'+ lst)))
(rghthnd (reduce #'+
(mapcar #'*
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third lst)
(first lst)
(first lst)
(second lst))))))
(when (= lefthnd rghthnd)
(return-from found? lst))))))
Since the loop is rather elaborate, I'd want to write and read it only once,
so move the outer condition inside:
(defun found? (index lst occupied width)
(loop :for j :from 1 :to 9
:unless (find j occupied :test #'=)
:do (setf (nth index lst) j)
(if (< index (1- width))
(when (found? (1+ index) ; recursion
lst
(cons j occupied)
width)
(return-from found? lst))
(let ((lefthnd (* 111 (reduce #'+ lst)))
(rghthnd (reduce #'+
(mapcar #'*
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third lst)
(first lst)
(first lst)
(second lst))))))
(when (= lefthnd rghthnd)
(return-from found? lst))))))
Did you see that occupied is just the first one or two elements of lst,
reversed? Instead of setting list elements, we can build up lst through the
recursion. We actually need to return the recursive results for that, so
this is better referential transparency.
(defun find! ()
(found? 0 ; initially show the number 1
'() ; initially no numbers found
3)) ; numbers list width is 3
(defun found? (index part width)
(loop :for j :from 1 :to 9
:unless (find j part :test #'=)
:do (if (< index (1- width))
(let ((solution (found? (1+ index) ; recursion
(cons j part)
width)))
(when solution
(return-from found? solution)))
(let* ((full (cons j part))
(lefthnd (* 111 (reduce #'+ full)))
(rghthnd (reduce #'+
(mapcar #'*
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third full)
(first full)
(first full)
(second full))))))
(when (= lefthnd rghthnd)
(return-from found? full))))))
Index and width are now only used for counting, so we only need one number,
which we can count towards zero. This also makes apparent that we should
probably move the base case out of the looping:
(defun find! ()
(found? '() ; initially no numbers found
3)) ; numbers list width is 3
(defun found? (part count)
(if (zerop count)
(let* ((full part) ; just rename to show that the number is complete
(lefthnd (* 111 (reduce #'+ full)))
(rghthnd (reduce #'+
(mapcar #'*
'(1000 100 10 1)
(list (third full)
(first full)
(first full)
(second full))))))
(when (= lefthnd rghthnd)
(return-from found? full)))
(loop :for j :from 1 :to 9
:unless (find j part :test #'=)
:do (let ((solution (found? (cons j part)
(1- count))))
(when solution
(return-from found? solution))))))
I think this more or less is what you can do if you keep it to a single
function. Now you'd probably want to separate the generation of
permutations from the actual code. There are for example some functions to
deal with such things in the widely used library alexandria.

Clisp implementation of quickperm algorithm

I'm working on an iterative solution to the n queens problem. I've decided to represent the state space as an array of 0's and 1's, such that a 1 represents the presence of a queen. The plan is to generate all permutations of the array and then write a verifier to prune incorrect solutions. I'm trying to do this is common lisp, even though I had never touched functional programming before today.
In order to generate the permutations, I chose to try and implement this algorithm, using the first pseudocode example: http://www.quickperm.org/
Here is my attempt:
(defun permute (n)
(setf total (* n n))
(let ((a (make-array total :initial-element 0)) ;list of objects to permute
(p (make-array total :initial-element 0))) ;array to control iteration
(dotimes (i n) (setf (aref a i) 1))
(loop for index from 1 while (< index total) do
(setf (aref p index) (- (aref p index) 1)) ;decrement p[i] by 1
(if (= (rem index 2) 1) ;if index is odd
(setf j (aref p index)) ;j = p[index]
(setf j 0)) ;else j = 0
(rotatef (aref a index) (aref a j)) ;swap a[index] & a[j]
(setf index 1) ;index = 1
(loop while (= (aref p index) 0) do ;while p[index] == 0
(setf (aref p index) index) ;p[index] = i
(setf index (+ index 1))) ;index++
print a)))
(permute 4)
Currently, I'm getting the error: AREF: index -1 for #array, which seems to be caused by the (setf (aref p index) (- (aref p index) 1)) line. In pseudocode, that line seems to implement p[index] = p[index] - 1. This is the only subtraction operation I have, but it shouldn't be operating on index itself, just on the value at its location.
What am I missing?
EDIT: I initialized every element of p to 0. Each element is actually supposed to be equal to its index. Will post updated code when completed.
It's been a long time since I've written CL, but here is a version that uses some idiomatic forms.
(defun permute (n)
(let ((a (make-array n)) ;list of objects to permute
(p (make-array (1+ n)))) ;array to control iteration
(dotimes (i n) (setf (aref a i) (1+ i)))
(dotimes (i (1+ n)) (setf (aref p i) i))
(setf i 1)
(loop with i = 1 and j = 0 while (< i n) do
(decf (aref p i)) ;decrement p[i] by 1
(setf j (if (oddp i) (aref p i) 0)) ;j = odd(i) ? a[i] : 0
(rotatef (aref a i) (aref a j)) ;swap a[i] & a[j]
(setf i 1) ;i = 1
(loop while (zerop (aref p i)) do ;while p[i] == 0
(setf (aref p i) i) ;p[i] = i
(incf i)) ;index++
(verif a n))))
Here's the final product, in case any sad sap stumbles here some day.
(defun permute (n)
(let ((a (make-array n)) ;list of objects to permute
(p (make-array (+ 1 n)))) ;array to control iteration
(dotimes (i n) (setf (aref a i) (+ i 1)))
(dotimes (i (+ n 1)) (setf (aref p i) i))
(setf index 1)
(loop while (< index n) do
(setf (aref p index) (- (aref p index) 1)) ;decrement p[i] by 1
(if (= (rem index 2) 1) ;if index is odd
(setf j (aref p index)) ;j = p[index]
(setf j 0)) ;else j = 0
(rotatef (aref a index) (aref a j)) ;swap a[index] & a[j]
(setf index 1) ;index = 1
(loop while (= (aref p index) 0) do ;while p[index] == 0
(setf (aref p index) index) ;p[index] = i
(setf index (+ index 1))) ;index++
(verif a n))))

translate list comprehension into Common Lisp loop

I have very recently started learning lisp. Like many others, I am trying my hand at Project Euler problems, however I am a bit stuck at Problem 14 : Longest Collatz Sequence.
This is what I have so far:
(defun collatz (x)
(if (evenp x)
(/ x 2)
(+ (* x 3) 1)))
(defun collatz-sequence (x)
(let ((count 1))
(loop
(setq x (collatz x))
(incf count)
(when (= x 1)
(return count)))))
(defun result ()
(loop for i from 1 to 1000000 maximize (collatz-sequence i)))
This will correctly print the longest sequence (525) but not the number producing the longest sequence.
What I want is
result = maximum [ (collatz-sequence n, n) | n <- [1..999999]]
translated into Common Lisp if possible.
With some help from macros and using iterate library, which allows you to extend its loop-like macro, you could do something like the below:
(defun collatz (x)
(if (evenp x) (floor x 2) (1+ (* x 3))))
(defun collatz-path (x)
(1+ (iter:iter (iter:counting (setq x (collatz x))) (iter:until (= x 1)))))
(defmacro maximizing-for (maximized-expression into (cause result))
(assert (eq 'into into) (into) "~S must be a symbol" into)
`(progn
(iter:with ,result = 0)
(iter:reducing ,maximized-expression by
(lambda (so-far candidate)
(if (> candidate so-far)
(progn (setf ,result i) candidate) so-far)) into ,cause)))
(defun euler-14 ()
(iter:iter
(iter:for i from 1000000 downto 1)
(maximizing-for (collatz-path i) into (path result))
(iter:finally (return (values result path)))))
(Presented without claim of generality. :))
The LOOP variant is not that pretty:
(defun collatz-sequence (x)
(1+ (loop for x1 = (collatz x) then (collatz x1)
count 1
until (= x1 1))))
(defun result ()
(loop with max-i = 0 and max-x = 0
for i from 1 to 1000000
for x = (collatz-sequence i)
when (> x max-x)
do (setf max-i i max-x x)
finally (return (values max-i max-x))))
A late answer but a 'pretty' one, albeit a losing one:
(defun collatz-sequence (x)
(labels ((collatz (x)
(if (evenp x)
(/ x 2)
(+ (* 3 x) 1))))
(recurse scan ((i x) (len 1) (peak 1) (seq '(1)))
(if (= i 1)
(values len peak (reverse seq))
(scan (collatz i) (+ len 1) (max i peak) (cons i seq))))))
(defun collatz-check (n)
(recurse look ((i 1) (li 1) (llen 1))
(if (> i n)
(values li llen)
(multiple-value-bind (len peak seq)
(collatz-sequence i)
(if (> len llen)
(look (+ i 1) i len)
(look (+ i 1) li llen))))))
(defmacro recurse (name args &rest body)
`(labels ((,name ,(mapcar #'car args) ,#body))
(,name ,#(mapcar #'cadr args))))

how to merge two strings ordered alphabetically, using recursion

I am learning Lisp. I have implemented a Common Lisp function that merges two strings that are ordered alphabetically, using recursion. Here is my code, but there is something wrong with it and I didn't figure it out.
(defun merge (F L)
(if (null F)
(if (null L)
F ; return f
( L )) ; else return L
;else if
(if (null L)
F) ; return F
;else if
(if (string< (substring F 0 1) (substring L 0 1)
(concat 'string (substring F 0 1)
(merge (substring F 1 (length F)) L)))
(
(concat 'string (substring L 0 1)
(merge F (substring L 1 (length L)) ))
))))
Edit :
I simply want to merge two strings such as the
inputs are string a = adf and string b = beg
and the result or output should be abdefg.
Thanks in advance.
Using string< is an overkill, char< should be used instead, as shown by Kaz. Recalculating length at each step would make this algorithm quadratic, so should be avoided. Using sort to "fake it" makes it O(n log n) instead of O(n). Using concatenate 'string all the time probably incurs extra costs of unneeded traversals too.
Here's a natural recursive solution:
(defun str-merge (F L)
(labels ((g (a b)
(cond
((null a) b)
((null b) a)
((char< (car b) (car a))
(cons (car b) (g a (cdr b))))
(t (cons (car a) (g (cdr a) b))))))
(coerce (g (coerce F 'list) (coerce L 'list))
'string)))
But, Common Lisp does not have a tail call optimization guarantee, let alone tail recursion modulo cons optimization guarantee (even if the latter was described as early as 1974, using "Lisp 1.6's rplaca and rplacd field assignment operators"). So we must hand-code this as a top-down output list building loop:
(defun str-merge (F L &aux (s (list nil)) ) ; head sentinel
(do ((p s (cdr p))
(a (coerce F 'list) (if q a (cdr a)))
(b (coerce L 'list) (if q (cdr b) b ))
(q nil))
((or (null a) (null b))
(if a (rplacd p a) (rplacd p b))
(coerce (cdr s) 'string)) ; FTW!
(setq q (char< (car b) (car a))) ; the test result
(if q
(rplacd p (list (car b)))
(rplacd p (list (car a))))))
Judging by your comments, it looks like you're trying to use if with a series of conditions (like a series of else ifs in some other languages). For that, you probably want cond.
I replaced that if with cond and cleaned up some other errors, and it worked.
(defun empty (s) (= (length s) 0))
(defun my-merge (F L)
(cond
((empty F)
(if (empty L)
F
L))
((empty L)
F)
(t
(if (string< (subseq F 0 1) (subseq L 0 1))
(concatenate 'string (subseq F 0 1) (my-merge (subseq F 1 (length F)) L))
(concatenate 'string (subseq L 0 1) (my-merge F (subseq L 1 (length L))))))))
Your test case came out as you wanted it to:
* (my-merge "adf" "beg")
"abdefg"
There were quite a few good answers, so why would I add one more? Well, the below is probably more efficient then the other answers here.
(defun merge-strings (a b)
(let* ((lena (length a))
(lenb (length b))
(len (+ lena lenb))
(s (make-string len)))
(labels
((safe-char< (x y)
(if (and x y) (char< x y)
(not (null x))))
(choose-next (x y)
(let ((ax (when (< x lena) (aref a x)))
(by (when (< y lenb) (aref b y)))
(xy (+ x y)))
(cond
((= xy len) s)
((safe-char< ax by)
(setf (aref s xy) ax)
(choose-next (1+ x) y))
(t
(setf (aref s xy) by)
(choose-next x (1+ y)))))))
(choose-next 0 0))))
(merge-strings "adf" "beg")
It is more efficient specifically in the sense of memory allocations - it only allocates enough memory to write the result string, never coerces anything (from list to string or from array to string etc.) It may not look very pretty, but this is because it is trying to do every calculation only once.
This is, of course, not the most efficient way to write this function, but programming absolutely w/o efficiency in mind is not going to get you far.
A recursive way to do it (fixed according to comment- other solutions can get an IF form as well).
(defun merge-strings (a b)
(concatenate 'string
(merge-strings-under a b)))
(defun merge-strings-under (a b)
(when (and
(= (length a)
(length b))
(> (length a) 0))
(append (if (string< (aref a 0) (aref b 0))
(list (aref a 0) (aref b 0))
(list (aref b 0) (aref a 0)))
(merge-strings-under (subseq a 1)
(subseq b 1)))))
Here's a iterative way to do it.
(concatenate 'string
(loop for i across "adf" for j across "beg" nconc (list i j)))
Note that these rely on building the string into a list of characters, then vectorizing it ( a string is a vector of characters).
You can also write a more C-esque approach...
(defun merge-strings-vector (a b)
(let ((retstr (make-array (list (+
(length a)
(length b)))
:element-type 'character)))
(labels ((merge-str (a b i)
(when (and
(= (length a)
(length b))
(/= i (length a)))
(setf (aref retstr (* 2 i)) (aref a i))
(setf (aref retstr (1+ (* 2 i))) (aref b i))
(merge-str a b (1+ i)))))
(merge-str a b 0)
retstr)))
Note that this one - unlike the other 2 - has side effects within the function. It also, imo, is more difficult to understand.
All 3 take varying numbers of cycles to execute on SBCL 56; each seems to take between 6K and 11K on most of my trials. I'm not sure why.

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