I am new to LISP and am trying to develop a few applications. Here I am trying to count the number of occurrences of every element in a list passed to this function. But unfortunately I am getting a " Illegal argument in functor position" error. Can somebody help me solve this and get this program working? Any help would be appreciated
(defun length1 (lst)
(let ((list1 (remove-duplicates lst)))
(cond ((null list1) 0)
(let ((number (count (car list1) lst))))
(print "Word was: ")
(print '(car list1))
(print "Number of Occurances: ")
(print number)
(length (rest lst)))))
In Common Lisp syntax (which appears to be the one used, not Scheme's) this is how it would look:
(defun length1 (lst)
(let ((list1 (remove-duplicates lst)))
(cond ((null list1) 0)
(t (let ((number (count (car list1) lst)))
(print "Word was: ")
(print (car list1))
(print "Number of Occurrences: ")
(print number)
(length (rest lst)))))))
Related
I am writing a function called ptyper that takes a nested list, nl. This function replaces all occurrences of a number with n and all occurrences of a symbol with s. This is what I have now:
(define (ptyper nl) (cond
((null? nl) '())
((list? nl)
(let ((ls (car nl)))
(list (ptyper ls))))
((number? (car nl))
(cons "n" (cdr nl)))
((symbol? (car nl))
(cons "s" (cdr nl)))
(else
(cons (car nl) (cdr nl)))))
I ran this test (ptyper '(2 (abc () "abc"))) but received an error that their was a contract violation. I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing wrong so if could use some help. Thanks!
Here is a possible solution with one function:
(define (ptyper nl)
(cond
((null? nl) '()) ; if the argument is an empty list, return the empty list
((list? nl) ; if the argument is a list, then
(let* ((c (car nl)) ; get its first element
(nc (cond ((number? c) "n") ; transform it for numbers
((symbol? c) "s") ; and symbols
((list? c) (ptyper c)) ; if a list recur over it
(else c)))) ; otherwise (e.g. a string) return as it is
(cons nc (ptyper (cdr nl))))) ; recursive call on the rest of the list
(else nl))) ; this should never happen for the specification,
; return the parameter or cause an error
Note that the error in your case is caused by the recursive call. When the function is called on an atom, for instance 2, first it checks for null and list?, and those checks returns false. Then it checks for (number (car nl)), but nl is equal to 2 and so car fails.
Here is a data definition for an S-expression, this models your data.
; An S-expr is one of:
; – Atom
; – SL
; An SL is one of:
; – '()
; – (cons S-expr SL)
; An Atom is one of:
; – Number
; – String
; – Symbol
We have predicates for every kind of data except Atom, so we make atom?:
;; Any -> Boolean
;; is the x an atom?
(define (atom? x)
(not (list? x)))
We follow the structure of the data to build "templates" for our functions:
(define (func sexp)
(cond
[(atom? sexp) (func-atom sexp)]
[else (func-sl sexp)]))
(define (func-sl sl)
(cond
[(empty? sl) ...]
[else (... (func (first sl)) ... (func-sl (rest sl)) ...)]))
(define (func-atom at)
(cond
[(number? at) ...]
[(string? at) ...]
[(symbol? at) ...]))
We fill in the gaps:
; Atom -> String
(define (subs-atom at)
(cond
[(number? at) "n"]
[(string? at) at]
[(symbol? at) "s"]))
; SL -> SL
(define (subs-sl sl)
(cond
[(empty? sl) sl]
[else (cons (subs-sexp (first sl))
(subs-sexp (rest sl)))]))
; S-exp -> S-exp
(define (subs-sexp sexp)
(cond
[(atom? sexp) (subs-atom sexp)]
[else (subs-sl sexp)]))
Using the interface for ptyper:
(define (ptyper nl)
(subs-sexp nl))
(ptyper '(2 (abc () "abc")))
; => '("n" ("s" () "abc"))
I attempted a question of making a program that replaces all instances of an element A within a list L with T and unlike elements with NIL. The bet is to not use mapcar.
Here is what I did earlier. I am storing all T and NIL in a new list POS then returning POS.
(defun SRC (A L)
(defun _SRC (A L POS)
(COND ((NOT (EQUAL (CAR L) NIL))
(_SRC A (CDR L) (APPEND POS (LIST (EQUAL A (CAR L))))))
((EQUAL (CAR L) NIL)
(APPEND POS (LIST (EQUAL A NIL))))
(T POS)))
(CDR (_SRC A L (LIST NIL))))
Current behaviour:
The program is working nicely, except when searching for NIL itself, but that special case is not of concern here.
Few example runs of my code:-
(SRC 'g '(a g g o t g))
> (nil t t nil nil t)
When searching for NIL in a list:-
(SRC nil '(t a t nil nil))
> (nil nil nil t)
In this singular case our program ends on finding the first NIL in the list, for other searches, the program works fine. So I tried adding the ability of searching within lists of lists.
My updated code for searching within lists of lists without mapcar:
(defun SRC (A L)
(defun _SRC (A L POS)
(COND ((LISTP (CAR L))
(APPEND POS (LIST (SRC A (CAR L)))))
((NOT (EQUAL (CAR L) NIL))
(_SRC A (CDR L) (APPEND POS (LIST (EQUAL A (CAR L))))))
((EQUAL (CAR L) NIL)
(APPEND POS (LIST (EQUAL A NIL))))
(T POS)))
(CDR (_SRC A L (LIST NIL))))
Now, the output that I expect from this code is as follows:
(SRC 'e '(a b e c (e g e) h t e))
> (nil nil t nil (t nil t) nil nil t)
Instead my code runs forever, causing stack overflow, and I could not figure out anything with callstacks or backtracking.
Unreadable code due to lack of indentation.
Your code is unreadable, because your code is not indented.
(defun SRC (A L)
(defun _SRC (A L POS)
(COND ((NOT (EQUAL (CAR L) NIL)) (_SRC A (CDR L) (APPEND POS (LIST (EQUAL A (CAR L))))))
((EQUAL (CAR L) NIL) (APPEND POS (LIST (EQUAL A NIL))))
(T POS)))
(CDR (_SRC A L (LIST NIL))))
Let's indent your code.
(defun SRC (A L)
(defun _SRC (A L POS)
(COND ((NOT (EQUAL (CAR L) NIL))
(_SRC A (CDR L) (APPEND POS (LIST (EQUAL A (CAR L))))))
((EQUAL (CAR L) NIL)
(APPEND POS (LIST (EQUAL A NIL))))
(T POS)))
(CDR (_SRC A L (LIST NIL))))
Style and basic mistakes
Basic mistakes or programming style problems:
defun should not be nested. defun is not for defining local functions. defun should only be used for global functions. Use flet or labels for local functions.
use first and rest instead of car and cdr
use speaking variables
use lowercase
Don't start with nested functions
I would start without nested functions.
(defun _src (element list pos)
(cond ((not (equal (first list) nil))
(_src a (rest list) (append pos (list (equal element (car list))))))
((equal (first list) nil)
(append pos (list (equal element nil))))
(t pos)))
(defun src (element list)
(cdr (_src element list (list nil))))
Simplify recursion
But then you can greatly simplify it using the usual recursive pattern:
(defun mark% (element list result)
(if (null list)
result ; empty list -> return result
(mark% element ; mark the rest of the list
(rest list)
(cons (equal element (first list)) ; equal for the first element?
result))))
(defun mark (element list)
"return a list with boolean values if element is found in the list"
(reverse (mark% element list nil))) : needs to reverse the result
Note
Generally don't program recursive functions like that, since Lisp actually already offers MAP and MAPCAR - those provide the mapping functionality in one place and it is not needed to bake the recursive mapping into each function of your own.
Preferably use higher level iteration facilities like LOOP:
CL-USER 13 > (loop for e in '(a b a b)
collect (equal 'a e))
(T NIL T NIL)
Nested lists
You can adapt the above function to nested lists by adding a case testing for the first element being a list and then doing something in that case...
(defun mark% (element list result)
(cond ((null list)
result)
((consp (first list))
(mark% element
(rest list)
(cons (mark element (first list))
result)))
(t
(mark% element
(rest list)
(cons (equal element (first list))
result)))))
Debugging
Use trace and/or step to see what your code is doing.
Fig. 65 in "How to Design Programs" is as follows:
; Nelon -> Number
; determines the smallest number on l
(define (inf l)
(cond
[(empty? (rest l)) (first l)]
[else
(local ((define smallest-in-rest (inf (rest l))))
(cond
[(< (first l) smallest-in-rest) (first l)]
[else smallest-in-rest]))]))
Can somebody explain how variable smallest-in-rest works. I get recursion in a function but a variable has me confused
It's just a shorthand (longhand ;-)) for the following:
(let ((smallest-in-rest (inf (rest l))))
(cond
[(< (first l) smallest-in-rest) (first l)]
[else smallest-in-rest]))
The let should make it clear that we're just storing the result of the (inf (rest l)) so that it only has to be written once in the code, rather than once for each branch of the cond.
I'm writing a recursive function that will convert an expression from prefix to infix. However, I need to add in a check to make sure part of the input is not already in infix.
For example, I may get input like (+ (1 + 2) 3).
I want to change this to ((1 + 2) + 3)
Here is what I have so far:
(define (finalizePrefixToInfix lst)
;Convert a given s-expression to infix notation
(define operand (car lst))
(define operator1 (cadr lst))
(define operator2 (caddr lst))
(display lst)
(cond
((and (list? lst) (symbol? operand));Is the s-expression a list?
;It was a list. Recusively call the operands of the list and return in infix format
(display "recursing")
(list (finalizePrefixToInfix operator1) operand (finalizePrefixToInfix operator2))
)
(else (display "not recursing") lst);It was not a list. We can not reformat, so return.
)
)
However, this is giving me syntax errors but I cant figure out why. Any help?
You have to check to see if the lst parameter is a list at the very beginning (base case), otherwise car and friends will fail when applied to an atom. Try this:
(define (finalizePrefixToInfix lst)
(cond ((not (pair? lst)) lst)
(else
(define operand (car lst))
(define operator1 (cadr lst))
(define operator2 (caddr lst))
(cond
((symbol? operand)
(list (finalizePrefixToInfix operator1)
operand
(finalizePrefixToInfix operator2)))
(else lst)))))
So i started learning Lisp yesterday and started doing some problems.
Something I'm having a hard time doing is inserting/deleting atoms in a list while keeping the list the same ex: (delete 'b '(g a (b) l)) will give me (g a () l).
Also something I'm having trouble with is this problem.
I'm suppose to check if anywhere in the list the atom exist.
I traced through it and it says it returns T at one point, but then gets overriden by a nil.
Can you guys help :)?
I'm using (appear-anywhere 'a '((b c) g ((a))))
at the 4th function call it returns T but then becomes nil.
(defun appear-anywhere (a l)
(cond
((null l) nil)
((atom (car l))
(cond
((equal (car l) a) T)
(T (appear-anywhere a (cdr l)))))
(T (appear-anywhere a (car l))(appear-anywhere a (cdr l)))))
Let's look at one obvious problem:
(defun appear-anywhere (a l)
(cond
((null l) nil)
((atom (car l))
(cond
((equal (car l) a) T)
(T (appear-anywhere a (cdr l)))))
(T (appear-anywhere a (car l))(appear-anywhere a (cdr l)))))
Think about the last line of above.
Let's format it slightly differently.
(defun appear-anywhere (a l)
(cond
((null l) nil)
((atom (car l))
(cond
((equal (car l) a) T)
(T (appear-anywhere a (cdr l)))))
(T
(appear-anywhere a (car l))
(appear-anywhere a (cdr l)))))
The last three lines: So as a default (that's why the T is there) the last two forms will be computed. First the first one and then the second one. The value of the first form is never used or returned.
That's probably not what you want.
Currently your code just returns something when the value of a appears anywhere in the rest of the list. The first form is never really used.
Hint: What is the right logical connector?